Cannot Select Reverse Gear - 915

[Mothy]

Went for a good long drive today to visit my Parents for my fathers birthday and New Years Day. As usual, I took the long way and gave the car a bit of stick - anyone who lives in Sydney Australia will know the Bells Line of Road.

Backed the car out of the driveway this morning and set off. 2 hours drive and I get to the destination only to find I cannot select reverse. I push in the clutch and it just won't shift into reverse. All the other gears are normal (including 5th). At the time I just put it down to a very hot run (its been 41C here today!)

Drove the car home tonight and still cannot get it into reverse, even after its cooled down.

No strange noises.
Factory short shift kit
Never been rebuilt before - about 150,000km
Normal hesitation for 1st to 2nd shift
Can cycle through the gears OK with motor on or off.
Clutch is less than 5,000km old

It feels like something is stopping it from moving back after pushing the lever over to the right. If the motor is running and I hold it back and let the clutch out very slowly and gently, I get the light buzzing sound from gears trying to match - if I tried harder or let the clutch out further I'm sure it would give a loud grind!! (but I'm not about to cause a major rebuild doing that!!!)

Mucking around with gearbox internals is beyond me - just want to know if there is anything simple I can test out before I take it to the mechanic on Tuesday.

Oh - and a Happy New Year to you all.

Tim

[4to8m8]

I'm not an expert but this exact situation happened to me. I adjusted the shift coupler. Problem fixed. I'm sure the experts will be here any second. Good luck.

[Icemaster]

First place I'd go is the coupler and check the adjustment. There's a good techincal article on this board on how to adjust.

Edit:

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/911_shifting_improvements/911_shifting_improvements.htm

[Pat Crellin]

Shift coupler was my 1st thought. Search, couldn't be easier.
Also, take a look under your shifter boot/cover. make sure everything looks right, is the gate working properly? things like that.

[LakeCleElum]

Tim: My bet is you need to replaced the bushings back at the coupler. When mine went, it was also with no notice.....Access is thru the plate on the tunnel behind the seats. It's only about a 20 minute job.

[Rick V]

as said before check he coupler bushings if they are good look into the shifter and make sure the reverse gate/lock out is in good shape and not broken off

[al lkosmal]

As everyone is saying, check the shift coupler bushings first. You should also check the screw that retains the cup/piece that is on the front end of the shift rod and accepts the cup bushing on the lower end of the shift lever. Mine came loose and I couldn't get it into reverse. I kept trying to adjust the damn coupler and nothing would work. finally i took the shift housing off and noticed the looseness of the cup thingy. A bit of loctite and away we went.

[Mothy]

Many thanks for all the replies folks - I'll check it out today and see how much of a mess I can make of it :-)

Tim

[Mothy]

OK - so it looks like its off to the mechanic tomorrow.

I checked out the shift coupling and re-adjusted - no change.

Also checked out the short shift mechanism and all seems in order. When I had the shift coupling loose, I checked the movement of the shift itself and it moved freely into all positions.

So it looks like its something in the gearbox itself that might be stopping it from going into reverse.

This is starting to sound expensive!!

Tim

[Pat Crellin]

Let us know.

[4to8m8]

What's the damage?

[Mothy]

Well - took it to the Mechanic today and ........

it looks like I suck at adjusting a shift coupler.

Seems that it was the adjustment after all - its just more sensitive than I realised and I was adjusting it too much towards the 1st/2nd plane.

Mechanic explained (if I listened right) that if the "selectors" are a bit closer together than standard, they can be a bit stiff if the box gets hot and has been running in 5th for an extended period (the run was in 40C heat and like an expressway). Pulling it out of 5th when stiff may have then caused the small shift in the coupler joint - causing my problems.

Great relief - thought it was going to be expensive!!!

Tim

[Icemaster]

Whew....

[Pat Crellin]

Smiles all around - glad you have an honest wrench.

[Mothy]

I spoke too soon - gear selection suddenly got worse the other day again and lost reverse and 5th with occasional problems with 4th.

Rechecked the coupling - all in order.

So it was off to the mechanic again. Well, he checked all the normal simple things first, including changing out the short shift for a standard one in case it was the culprit......... no luck.

So out comes the engine and gearbox to inspect internals..... and when they opened it up, out popped a tooth!!! Missing off one of the gears for 1st. Seems it was getting in the way of the selectors as it moved about in the box.

No other damage showing up after inspection, so I guess I was lucky in that respect - but it still sucks!!

So new 1st gear now ready to go in. Replacing the syncro's whilst they are in there - saves doing it later. Doing all the bushings and seals as well.

Get the car back tomorrow - hate to think what the bill will look like. But at least thats one more item off my "probably should do" along with the Turbo tie rods I got them to fit at the same time.

They used to say owning a boat was like standing under a cold shower ripping up $10 notes .... P cars just use $100 notes instead. :-)

Tim

[johncarlos2003]

Hey bro
that sucks. but, you're getting a 911 back tomorow right? i know, it hurts sometimes. smile though, think of all the good smile making drives that now lay ahead.

[Pat Crellin]

Sorry to hear but it could have been worse. You'll like it when it's done.

I changed my trans oil & found a dog tooth on the magnet. The tranny shifted pretty good so I didn't worry about it. About 6 months later I lost 2nd, wouldn't go in. My then mechanic told me to shift from 1st to 3rd & bring it in the next week when he had time to look at it.
I got about a half mile & all hell broke loose. Total rebuild.

Don't wait till all hell breaks loose.

[jeff1hughes]

too late, I waited - and all hell broke loose. The engine and trans are on my garage floor now, while I prepare to ship the trans out for a full rebuild