my 98 5spd wont go into reverse...it will go into reverse if you keep playin around with the shifterr OR if the car sits for a long period of time BUT other than that the car never wants to go in reversse..

any ideas?

 

any grinding when you try to put it in? clutch pedal in all the way? clutch fluid full? try pressing the clutch 2 times and then R - syncro's might be going out or the throw out bearing, or the cylinder...

 

I think you might soon have some tranny problems. i cud be wrong. But check to make sure you have clutch fluid and sink it all the way down...maybe twice(if needed) before trying reverse.

 

there are no syncro's for reverse gear, reverse is an extra gear that slides between two gears. either something is worn with the shaft that the gear slides on or with any mechanical part that makes it shift into reverse, or there's something wrong with your clutch (your clutch has to be fully disengaged and the vehical not moving to put it into reverse, or it grinds/doesn't slide into it)

for the clutch i doubt there's anything wrong, the only way something might of been wrong with it is you did a clutch job recently and put one that's thicker than specified (the reason it doesn't fully disengage) but i doubt it since you didn't say anything about a recent clutch job. so my best bet would be to bleed the clutch system, its probably not applying enough pressure to release the clutch fully.

 

sorry i take back what i said, just opened up the fsm and there indeed is a syncro for the reverse. so yeah its possible for the syncro going bad, but you could start by doing a clutch bleed to be sure.

i never opened a maxima's tranny (yet) but did toyota's, hondas, and vw while in school and all the reverse gears on those were on a seperate shaft.

 

whats ur mileage?

 

I just remembered but the first time i had this problem, i was driving around locally and the car would not want to go in to 2nd or 3rd gear, with the clutch all the way down it would still grind...after this happened i topped off the clutch fluid and it never happened again..it now just dosnt go into reverse...i've tried everything.. pressing the clutch twice ..i have to really sit there and play with the shifter for it to want to go in R..

- My max has 137,000 miles and got a new clutch last july
But it seems like my tranny, syncros,and throw out bearing are all possible candidates for what could be the problem...

let me know if you guys need any more information that would be helpful
Thanks a lot four your help and responses

 

The first thing to do as mad med said is to bleed it. It's one of the few things you can do before cracking open the tranny.

 

when it fails to go in, try to see if it will go in after you turn off the car. if it does then you can just hold the clutch while its in R and start her up. at least that way u can tell if its a tranny or clutch issue.

 

when i have problems of getting my car or any car into reverse, i drop it into 2nd and then into R, and if it doesn't work, i try several times. helps line stuff up

 

So if this worked for him. wat wud the problem end u looking like....clutch or tranny.?

 

Have you tried putting the car in first, nudging forward a tad, then trying reverse? Sometimes the reverse idler isn't completely aligned to get into reverse easily. This is pretty much a characteristic of nissan 5 speed, or at least to me.

S