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Transmission Reverse problem

12981 Views 20 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  REDLX347
This might be my first trip to the dealer. Basically what happens is when shifting into reverse, it does not happen everytime but enough to make me never want to put it in reverse except for when the car is off, the gears grind. Yes, grind, that god awful sound of your gears geting destroyed. No matter how hard I push the clutch in or pull up on the reverse lock-out ring on the shifter, it grinds, even just after starting the engine before the car even moves. Anyone else have a similar problem? Or had the problem and found the reason? I guess it could be as easy as letting the car sit a few seconds after putting the clutch in, but either way I have never had a car do this to me before.
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Bet you have a clutch problem Get it documented for future SS owners. Take it to the dealer for eevry stupid thing that goes wrong.
svtfocus said:
Bet you have a clutch problem Get it documented for future SS owners. Take it to the dealer for eevry stupid thing that goes wrong.
Yeah sounds like like a clutch but svtfocus you are right go to Chevy for every thing that goes wrong it absoutly right.
i know exactly what your talking about. I've had my ss for two weeks now and it dosent do it every time, but i would say 2 or 3 out of 5 times it grinds when putting it in reverse. its like you have to get it exactly right or else it grinds. i hate putting it in reverse around people or with people in the car bc it makes me looks amateurish, but there seems to be no way of avoiding it.
MUCobalt said:
i know exactly what your talking about. I've had my ss for two weeks now and it dosent do it every time, but i would say 2 or 3 out of 5 times it grinds when putting it in reverse. its like you have to get it exactly right or else it grinds. i hate putting it in reverse around people or with people in the car bc it makes me looks amateurish, but there seems to be no way of avoiding it.
its ok. i wouild feel amatuerish to.. but dont worry what other poeple think. and i agree with who said to take it to the dealer every time something goes wrong. mine wasnt starting last week.
I've been having problems with 2nd gear, pops out sometimes when I let off the clutch. Today it popped out again, but this time it did not want to go back in. After 3 tries, I gave up and went back to 1st then to 3rd. About a block later I tried 2nd again and it's going in smooth now (for the time being, anyways).

This has been an ongoing problem that I've already been back to the dealer twice about with the dealer saying that they can not find anything wrong. I have to go out of town next week, but the following it's going to a different dealer. My SS already had 97 miles on it when I got it, and a guy in the parts department admitted he and a salesman took a traded-in Evo out and beat on it.

I really hate dealing with lawyers but if a Chevy dealer somewhere doesn't get my car running like it's brand new pretty soon (since it is!), then the original dealer is going to find themselves buying the car back from me.
I've just hit 3000 miles and I've only had one minor problem with sunroof button popping loose. I glued it back in and its solider(?) than ever.
I think I know exaclty what it is.... I have a 95' Eagle Talon TSI and mine did that every once and a while and I took it to three transmission places and they all said the same thing. Its a safty thing.... If your rolling and you go to put it in reverse its ganna try not letting you go into gear so its ganna make the grinding sounds. But if your completely stopped it will go in just fine. So test this out....be completely stopped when putting it in gear and tell me what happens. Hope I was some help.
BriFri11 said:
I think I know exaclty what it is.... I have a 95' Eagle Talon TSI and mine did that every once and a while and I took it to three transmission places and they all said the same thing. Its a safty thing.... If your rolling and you go to put it in reverse its ganna try not letting you go into gear so its ganna make the grinding sounds. But if your completely stopped it will go in just fine. So test this out....be completely stopped when putting it in gear and tell me what happens. Hope I was some help.
There is no way of knowing when or where it will do it. I never shift into reverse when I am moving, only when at a stand still. I have had it do it just after starting the car. Gonna take it in as soon as I can find the time.
My reverse only grinded (slightly) once. But, I've only had it for two days :)
I talked to a family member about it, he used to own a camaro that had a similar situation. He would always put it into first and then into reverse, probably using the syncros for first since revers has none I think. Either way, I have now been using this technique and have had no more grinding what so ever. :D
Reverse

Yea mine Grinded the first day i had it before i even left, i checked it because i read in on here, but my piece of advice to everyone is throw it in 5th first, and it will never grind. i'll get mine checked out as soon as i get a chance :)
I've never experianced this grinding and it has ~350 miles on it. I'm always to a complete stop and i never put it into another gear first. I personally would get it checked out by the dealer. If you've got a warrenty...USE IT!
ive had the grinding problem also it seems to only happen if the car sits idling for a few min then you try to reverse! another thing my cobalt will see the chevy doc for among the shutting down while driving and the leather insert coming out from under the passenger door handle!
Final Update

I talked to the chevy service manager today when I took my car in, and he said it is normal for the transmission to do this after a 'cold' start. He said that the engine idles a little higher than normal right after a 'cold' start and this causes the trans to make those noises. All you really need to do is shift into a gear that has syncros then just shift right into reverse, fixes all the problems.
Are you guys pulling up on the black nob (sorda thing) underneith the shifter nob? You are supposed to pull up on it till it is almost in the shifter ball then shift into reverse. First time I have ever seen that. Goes into reverse pretty easy when doing that. ;)

Girlfriend just got a Silver one on Monday. Pretty sweet ride, but the dealer told us you had to do that to help it go into reverse.
the guy who told you that is normal is full of it because its a new car not supposed to make noise. the dealer is replacing my tranny next monday. mine does it warm cold moving not moving the only way it doesn;t do it is if i go in 5th before reverse. you have to use the reverse lever to get it to go in reverse i had the same thing on my 2002 Z24
Hi, I have put about 3000 miles on my SS so far. The only time it grinds is if I pop it into neutral when i coast into my driveway. After coming to a complete stop then putting it into reverse (clutch all the way in). Doesn't seem to do it in the morning when i back out though, only if i coast in then reverse. I'm assuming this is normal.
I've got over 6000 miles on my SS now, and reverse never grinds for me. My problem is with 2nd gear :mad:
same thing with mine i had the clutch all the way and it wouldnt go in R easy w/o grinding. I have been treating it good too. I thaught it was just me, but it only happened once in 1790 mi.
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