My car does not work in reverse. It shifts great in all other gears but reverse. i was told it was the reverse linkage needed to be adjusted. Do you think thats right?

Transmission is done. Nothing electronic will cause that, only mechanical

The linkage may be out of adjustment preventing the shifter from moving into reverse or park.
One way to test this is to disconnect the linkage and manually move the lever on the transmision making sure that it can be set into park. Also try moving the lever counting each click from park to low gear to make sure it is clicking into each gear. If this works then the linkage is probably out of adjustment.
On the link cable there is typically a bolt in an oval shaped metal near the transmission shift lever.
1)Detach the shift cable from the transmission shift lever
2)Put the transmision shift lever in the park position, and also the shifter in the cab
3)Loosen the adjustment bolt
4)Reattach the cable to the lever
5)Tighten the adjustment bolt in place
6)Confirm that you can shift through all of the gears
Hope this helps

Time to take the transmission apart!

Hi there,

When a 5-spd gearbox cannot hold reverse, this means either:
* Worn or mal-adjusted Shift Linkage
or
* Weak Shift Rail Spring

If after having the Shift Linkage adjusted the reverse gear still pops out , then you may be facing some more costly work in your gearbox. Depending on the quote to repair your existing box, it may actually be cheaper to fit a 2nd hand one.

Good luck..




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is it manual or automatic. Spits out. Being an 85 golf, There are parts on vehicles that need adjusting over time. There are parts on these adjustable parts that need maintenance and after say 24 years lol, replacing. Shift linkage adjustment and shift bushings are the most common cause of reverse (spitting out). Purchased online for 8.00 U.S. or get the nice neoprene if you plan on keeping the golf. Shift linkage adjustment is easy if you are a professional. If your not, plan to be on your back and making alot of trips back and forth if you don't know what your doing. Don't let some crook talk you into serious money. Adjust your linkage , but first replace the shift bushings. The little things are what tell the big things what to do.

You have bad sycronizers in the gearbox. They are made of softer metal so they will wear out. They are used to smoothly shifte from one gear to another. How does the clutch feel? Any play in the shifter? Could be the clutch going bad, or play in the shifter also.

It sounds like you have a damaged shifter cable.It is an adjustable cable but if it is that far out of adjustment then it is probably damaged. Replace it.

Sounds like the shifter linkage needs adjusted. There is a neutral saftey switch that prevents the car from being started in any foward or reverse gear. If the shifter linkage is out of adjustment, the neutral safety switch will give you starting problems.

This is almost certainly the case. The gears selector on the gearbox is worked by rods connected to the gear lever and minor mispositioning (often when you have had a clutch change) will cause this issue. Reverse always seems to be affected most by this issue. You might be aboe to fix it yourself, but without a little knowledge you could of course make it worse. I wouldn't spend out on a SAAB dealership to fix this though, a confident and competent local mechanic will probably sort it out for you at a much reduced cost.

My need to adjust shift cable