I have a 2004 TL w/a manual transmission. I am having trouble getting into reverse. I do not always notice a problem but seems to be happening more lately. Has anyone else experienced a similar problem? Thanks in advance.

 

I will occasionally have this problem - I'll usually put in neutral, then clutch again and put it in reverse, and it slides right in. Maybe something with the synchro design?

A few of my previous MT's acted this way. And my friend had a Jetta, and he would put it in 4th then reverse in one motion to avoid trouble getting into reverse.

Are you experiencing a grinding noise? Or is the "reverse lockout" feature not disabling? (this is a feature that locks out reverse when at speed to avoid missing 6th and going in reverse)

 

Many reverse gears don't have synchros so any rotation in the gbx will cause a ker-chunck or grind into reverse. That's why it isn't uncommon to hear that people develop a tendency to engage a forward gear slightly prior to going into reverse especially if the car has been idling in neutral for a while. This basically stops or slows the intermediate shaft. It becomes subconscious after a while. I used to do it with a Saab I had but never needed to in the TL. In looking at the shop manual it appears that the reverse gear in the TL does in fact have a synchro so this issue shouldn't be as big a deal.

I also thought of the reverse lockout device as did Wid-TL.

So is the car completely stopped when trying to engage reverse ? I'm guessing you are stopped
Does it feel like the shifter isn't going all the way to the right ? That would be the lock-out
Or does it seem like you can get the shifter all the way to the right and it is just plain old tough to get it "back" into the gear ? That would probably be the gears/synchros themselves.

 

Is the shifter going into the slot halfway and then stopping? I sometimes wont be able to engage reverse entirely. The mirrors will go down but its not fully in gear. Doesnt happen often, when it does just moving the shifter back and forth a few times works everything out.

 

thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate it. Here is some more info based upon the responses:

The car is completely stopped when I've tried but been unable to shift into reverse. There is no grinding or friction when I have attempted to shift. The only difference I notice when I think I have it in reverse is that the side mirror does not adjust and, of course, the car does not move in reverse when I apply the gas.

I have also tried engaging clutch, putting in neutral (have not tried 4th gear) and re-shifting. On the few instances where it won't go into reverse, I have been unable to get to correct the problem. However, the other day, I pulled into a parking spot and attempted to pull backwards and reallign the car. I could not get in reverse. I tried several times and tried shifting to neutral first. I even turned off the car and re-started. Nothing worked. I then left the car for about an hour. When I returned and started the car, it went right in reverse...

Thanks again for the help.

 

Definitely not normal. Sounds like something intermittent in the reverse lockout solenoid to me. The tough part will be getting the car to "perform" for the dealer.

I know this sounds like a PITA but you might want to familiarize yourself with the lockout solenoid so that you can at least get the car into R if you get stuck somewhere prior to getting it fixed. If there is a way to manually actuate it it would be worth knowing. Not sure if there is though.

 

I have same issue. I pull in to a space go to put it in reverse and it wont go over far enough to slide into reverse. Must be an issue with the lockout. This happens all the time. I cycle through the gears and it just eventually works. Shutting the car off and leaving it for a while usually always works. Its so annoying is other than that tranny and clutch seem perfect no 3rd gear issues.

I dont know what to do

 

sometimes its notchy for me too but try going to a forward gear first then going to reverese it helps out.

 

Sooo... It's been a few years lol, anyone find a resolution to the reverse gear stubbornness?