I just bought a 2015 honda fit lx and was wondering if anyone else is having problems with putting the car in reverse?Sometimes it seems like it is harder then normal to put in reverse.

 

I had this same problem with my Ex and I am not sure if it is me getting used to the car, or the transmission breaking in a little bit. We now have 3,000 miles on the car and I am finding it easier to get into. Although I will admit, it does not like to go into reverse while the car is still rolling forward.

 

Try pushing the stick all the way left in neutral first then throw it in reverse.

 

The 6MT is a synchronous transmission. However that mechanism only applies to the forward gears. As a cost saving measure, there is a reverse idler gear that meshs, actual teeth to the output shaft. The inertia of the forward gears is still moving causing the reverse shift to be more resistive. There is a cam plate when you shift into 5th to stop the transmission's inertia movement THEN into reverse that allows the idler gear to be synced to prevent grinding of the gear teeth.

Thats the technical explanation buddy. Me, i make sure im at a complete stop, and have learned to shift into reverse exactly at a stop, or just as I'm about to roll back. Always hear a slight bit of mesh, but the key element to avoid is grinding.

 

Even when I am at a complete stop, sometimes it does not go into reverse. Usually I have to put it back into neutral. Also, it seems tougher to put into reverse then other manuals. Would that have to do with the synchronous set up just being in gears 1-6?

 

I've noticed it's sometimes tough to get into reverse until I let out the clutch (yeah in neutral) and re-engage, then it slips in like a hot knife in butter. This is not unusual to me, I've had MTs since the '70s and they've all acted like this on occasion.

 

Yes. Also don't forget 6 gear and reverse are next to each other, there is a reverse lockout that engages past 5MPH to prevent you hitting reverse while moving. its not uncommon to shift to neutral, release the clutch then shift to reverse. I can assure you this is normal operation. Worst case is that there may need to be a linkage adjustment, but thats RARE.

From the Honda Civic Service manual 97-99. Pretty sure the FIT employs a similar setup.

Whenever the clutch pedal is depressed to shift into reverse, the mainshaft continues to rotate because of its inertia. The resulting speed difference between mainshaft and reverse idler gear produces gear noise [grinding]. The reverse gear noise reduction system employs a cam plate which was added to the reverse shift holder. When shifting into reverse, the 5th/reverse shift piece, connected to the shift lever, rotates the cam plate. This causes the 5th synchro set to stop the rotating mainshaft.

hope this makes sense. I have noticed the shift lever "loosens" up slightly as you drive it. Not in a bad way, but shifting becomes more smooth. Its that or maybe I've gotton used to the feel and setup of the tranny.

 

Reverse is typically not synchronized on practically all manual transmissions—this is not unique to the Fit. There are several reasons for this: besides the cost savings (since there's no reason to shift into reverse when the car is in motion), reverse is generally not a constant-mesh gearset like the other gears are. The reverse pinion is not in mesh with the output shaft until you move the shifter into reverse. This saves on wear on the pinion and its bearings and reduces friction in the transmission when traveling forwards—which, of course, is the vast majority of time the car is in use. (Bear in mind that reverse requires an extra idler gear in the gear train to make the output shaft spin in the opposite direction from normal.)

As the others have suggested, if it doesn't want to shift into reverse, get things in the transmission to reposition themselves slightly by either going to neutral and blipping the clutch, by shifting into another gear, or possibly by releasing the brake and letting the car roll ever so slightly. It's the sort of thing that you get used to pretty quickly.

 

This is probably why it suggests in the owners manual to park the car in reverse.

 

Not exactly. You generally park manual transmission cars in reverse (or sometimes first) because they have the steepest gear ratios, and hence the engine compression provides the largest resistance towards the car's rolling unexpectedly in case the parking brake doesn't do its job for some reason. It's the closest equivalent to park on a car with an automatic transmission.

(The hand brake on the Fit, as with most cars, only works on the back wheels. Since it's a front wheel drive car, shifting into park on an automatic or reverse on a manual locks the front wheels as well and provides considerably more holding power.)

I generally leave mine in either first or reverse, whichever corresponds to the direction I expect to go when leaving. I got in this habit with my first manual transmission car, which lacked a clutch safety switch for the starter. Once or twice I absent-mindedly tried to start it without the clutch in, causing the car to lurch, and quickly decided that if it was going to lurch, I would rather have it lurch towards open space than towards the garage wall or another parked car or whatever.

 

Ok yeah that makes sense, I have always parked my manual cars in first and I guess I didn't put two and two together when I read the manual and it said always park using reverse. I never used reverse to park a manual before this car. So thank you for getting my head out of my ***

A side benefit of parking it in reverse is you don't have to worry about aligning everything up in the transmission. Start and go.

 

Good info. For me, the Fit reverse is a ton easier to put into reverse overall than my previous car, a 2011 Ford Fiesta.

 

I had no clue this was an issue.

Never a problem ever as in never ever, not even close, like really, people have a problem putting it in reverse?

Hmm, maybe people aren't pushing in the clutch far enough?

You learn something new everyday around here.