Hey Guys, I need to figure out why the trans won't go into reverse. It's not slipping or anything, it just won't go into reverse at all! The trans sat for several years and I have just put it into the car again. Replaced the front and rear seals and filter and all. Any ideas on where to look first? Any assistance is appreciated. Later,
I had that happen to me once.. I ended up driving it and just one day it went into reverse. Still dont know why or how? Dan
Actually for the longest time I thought R stood for race. We had a circle drive at home and I just never used that option. Then one nite....... and it goes downhill from there, or should I say backwards.......
See, y'all are the reason I keep my hair short on the sides....so I can't get ahold of it and yank it out! I'll mess with it again in a couple of days. I'm just starting a double shift and I haven't laid down yet . It's gonna be a long night. I have a suspicion that it's just linkage related, but I'm not really sure yet. May not have the cable adjusted just right on the shifter, or the shifter arm may be slipping on the shaft. Oh well, I'll just have to get to it when I can. Thanks, and later...
put the shifter in reverse and the crawl under the car and see if it is seated completely in that position, hopefully the cable just needs adjusting......or it could be the cable is "frayed" or burnt and its to sloppy. (had that happen once) or it could be broke. good luck, I know you will figure it out.
If all your forward gears are working then all you need to do is get a new rear servo piston and seal kit. It consists of the servo piston (seal is part of it) and the square ring that seals the cover. Clean the area around the rear servo with a wire brush and hot soapy water. Take a drain pan and put it under the rear servo. Remove the two bottom bolts from the cover. Loosen the two top bolts just 1 turn and tap the cover. It will spring out a bit and any oil will miss the pan completely. Reposition the pan to catch the oil and slowly remove the top two bolts. The piston will pop out because of the spring behind it. Lubricate your new piston with Vaseline petroleum jelly. Clean the cover off and put the new square ring in place. Put a thin film of "Gasket maker" by Loc-Tite on the ring and the bevel of the servo bore. (a thin film is .010" or less) You do NOT want to get too much of that stuff on the surfaces - it will lock up anything it comes incontact with - valves - pump linkage - ANYTHING. Push the piston in (making sure that the slot in the end of the rod is lined up with the band link) with the cover and start all four bolts. Check that the ring is in place. Tighten the four bolts down evenly and as it seats watch that the seal stays in place. Torque to specs (18ftLb) and fill the tranny with NEW fluid (Type "F"). take it out for a test drive and when it goes into reverse pat yourself on the back! sit back and have a beer.
Thanks Paul. Is the servo and piston kit something that the parts houses carry, or is it going to be a special order? I've still got to check the adjustment first, but at least I have an idea where to go from there, if adjustment is not the problem. Is there any way that you could send me the worksheets, special tools stuff, etc... that you have to tom.stone@alcan.com ? Thanks,
Paul to the Rescue again!!! I started to say the same thing but I didn't feel like writing all of that down.
"trans set for a few years" If it will go in...PARK...DRIVE...2...1...the linkage is fine.park and 1st. are the gears that you can't get if the linkage is ...out of adjustment... rev. valve is stuck. put a bottle of ...trans medic...or...slick shift...in it. like Dan, did ...drive it... "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".. ...:Handshake ...
Maxx, your information is on the way. Thanks Ray - I was up and it was late - had nothing better to do since sleep is for when you're dead. 71 Gold, I have seen many Fords that would shift into low and park and still be just far enough out of adjustment to mess with a gear in between. That rear servo piston is infamous for cracking where it is bonded to the piston - that is not an adjustment issue. It only works when you are in reverse and if reverse is the only gear affected then it as likely as not that the piston seal is bad. The valve that controls reverse is the manual valve - if it was stuck you wouldn't be able to shift the car at all. It may be that the reverse servo piston is just flat from sitting and if you put "Trans-mechanic in a can" in the tranny it might soften it up and make it work - then again it is just as likely that the seal is cracked and you could drive it to heaven and back and never get it to work. In an hour or less you can change the piston and be done with it. Why even mess with the can?
