Tranny won't shift to Reverse

[Brad]

Hi All,

I have a 2008 Mazda3 GT 2.3 MT and when the engine is cold its hard for me to shift the car into reverse. It'll go into other gears no problem, but reverse is a problem. Once the car is warm, the car will shift into Reverse. Car has about 17.5K miles on it. Any ideas?

[slackey]

I have the same problem sometimes. Try shifting into 1st and then reverse, or 3rd and then reverse, or some combination of those. That seems to help me usually. I read on another forum this has something to do with lining up the synchronizers.

[Brad]

Yeah, I just read that as well. Thanks :)

[SeR_Cyclops]

I have this same problem with my msp sometimes. I just go into first and then into reverse. Or let the car roll like a few inches if its at a spot where it will roll.

[flash75]

Reverse has no synchronizer, but the teeth need to be lined up for the gears to engage. Usually going into another gear before selecting reverse repositions the reverse gears enogh for teeth to line up.

Clifton

[pt109]

It's not a problem really, all my previous cars did that.

When trying to shift to reverse,SLOWLY release the clutch and it will engage.

[Chibana]

Mine does that, too, although it has gotten worse as the car has aged. It's almost 5 years old now and has 161,000 miles. I usually have to shift into first, move the car just a hair, and then it goes into reverse just fine. My 1991 Escort GT (rebadged Protege) did the same thing as it got older. My Fords never did. I'm guessing they had a synchronizer for reverse?

[ryukensfj]

Actually it hasn't happen to me during the summer... Happens more during the winter.

[ryukensfj]

Mine does that too. Nothing to worry about, just shift into 1st then back into reverse.

[Brad]

Funny enough it hasn't done this since I made this thread