Reverse won't work

[bdavis9999]

I recently changed my 1998 Boxster 2.5 l engine to a 2.7 l engine. This included a full wiring harness change out. The car runs and drives except it will not go into reverse. The problem is not the shifter linkage as I cannot get it in reverse at the transmission itself. Gears 1-5 engage and drive. When I try to engage reverse right at the transaxle, it feels like there is no slot for reverse at all. Any help would be much appreciated.

[steveng1993]

"Keep moving forward"

Did you change out the transmission with the swap?
Do you know if it was working before the swap?

[davekillen]

This happened to me after I had the drivetrain out on my '98 for various maintenance. It turned out to be one of the brackets that holds the shift linkage on the side of the transmission. Look at the slot in the bracket that the shifter cable that operates reverse slides in (the arc-shaped slot if that makes sense). work the cable back and forth and watch to see if the piece that rides in this slot can travel equadistant up and down from center. On mine, since the bracket was slightly bent (the tranny must have rolled over on it at some point when it was on my garage floor), the cable couldn't quite travel all the way in the direction it needed to for reverse. I realized this after noticing that the piece that travels in the arc was slightly off-center when in neutral.

It was a matter of a millimeter or two, but that was enough. A quick tweak with a pry bar (prying the bracket away from the transmission) did the trick. I didn't even have to jack the car up to do this... just removed the shield with those two 10mm bolts and that gave me the access I needed.

Hope this makes sense.

[bdavis9999]

Spot on! Adjusting the linkage worked perfectly. I must have bent it when I had the transaxle out on the ground. Thanks so much!