Howdy Fit friends, does anyone have experience wrenching on their manual transmission and have insight on cause/solution for an MT where reverse isn't selectable?

Is there something specific I should be looking for on the outside of the transmission?
Or anything interior to the transmission?

The other day, my reverse went out... I have 5 good forward gears that shift great (MT 5 speed) but reverse feels like there's no gear there at all. When I recently replaced my clutch, I also did the input shaft bearing. Prior to the job, reverse was sometimes tricky to select, wanting to grind and sometimes not going into gear, but usually solved by shifting into another gear and then back into reverse. After replacing the clutch/input shaft, reverse was tricky at first, but seemed to have sorted itself out entirely. But the other day I hit a sizeable bump on a dirt road and "bang" the suspension took a hit. I immediately lost reverse entirely... no grinding or anything. It's like there no gear there at all. The shift linkage on top of the transmission looks good.

Thanks for any suggestions and help you can provide!

 

What year? Does the shifter move into the R slot on the shift pattern, or is it blocked? There's a reverse-lockout cam inside the trans that prevents shifting from 5th directly into reverse. Maybe it wasn't tightened down fully or got damaged somehow?

 

Good questions!
2007. Shifter does move into R slot, however without any feeling... Its like there's no physical gear there. I didn't realize the manual transmission had a reverse lockout. But I did reassemble and tighten down all bolts in the trans when reassembling it after replacing the input shaft bearing and seal.... I suppose an internal bolt could have backed itself out.

 

The lockout would prevent you from moving the shifter into the R position, so it's not that.
5th gear feels normal? The reverse idler gear has its own selector fork that slides the gear over to mesh with the main shaft and counter shaft.


The fork is operated by the "5-R Shift Piece" which has the actual shifter 5th & Reverse gate on it. The "C" arrow here is pointing to the top of the gate:


If entering and exiting 5th (back to neutral) is normal, the gate is still there, and the "shift piece" is still bolted to the 5th shift fork rod. The tab that operates reverse might have broken off, or there may be a problem with the reverse shift fork.

 

I would recheck that linkage, it sounds like a missing spring or clip. But I have zero experience in the matter.

 

Replicate reverse pattern at linkage manually and if still no effect -> remove trans. and disassemble. There is no easy way through proper repair procedure. GL

 

Hey thanks, very much, for your detailed replies! I ended up opening the transmission again... the two 10mm bolts that secure the reverse selector were super loose! I must have spaced out installing them and not torqued them at all. This time, I used a drop of blue loctite on them and torqued them. So far, it appears to have solved the issue, as reverse is shifting... like new... better than it was before I did the clutch and input shaft bearing!