REVERSE GEAR HOW CAN I TELL IF MY MECHANIC DIDNT INSTALL A NEW CLUTCH ? STILL HAVE SAME PROBLEM WITH REVERSE POPING OUT OF GEAR, AFTER NEW CLUTCH WAS INSTALLED,WHY?

Press harder on the clutch so you will avoid an unexpected contact of the gears

Return your vehicle to the mechanic for an opportunity to repair it correctly.

old post but 88s are so rare , so here we go. the answer.
ok its a manual transmission, (i had 2 that year,) the xj and the Comanche PU truck , a pair. (drove the snarf out of them)
the post is weak sorry, but you didnt tell the full story,.
huh?
is engine running? fails to shift parked engine off>?????
cant start engine in 1st gear??? (pickone or reverse) with clutch depressed to floor and car moves doing so?) or stalls.....?
that is a bad clutch.
it will start in neutral, with a bad clutch. so..... that be key fact there.

or is this a post that means, car starts ok in gear
but cant shift moving, only a moving car issues ?
we cant guess any of that, it must be stated.

my 88s both had crapppy" Peugot trans", and worse a coaxal
throw out bearing , that took me 10 long hours (4wd)
to replace, my new JK jeep its only 1hrs work on slave.

the first clue (bad) is the clutch master cylinder fluid drops lower
day by day or every week, oops. that be the first clue.

"from 1st" is my only clue.
surely you can better that. do tell.. please.

the only abuse is from the dealer-please go to a trans mechanic that has xperienc or send issue to magicmechanic online-hes in florida and a mastertech on any make or model

its worn by the sound of it ,either the linkage needs a new joint or a bit of a repair but i suspect the gear selector inside the gearbox is worn the fork type thing is worn and its not moving the gear over ,ask a local mechanic to have a look for you as he will soon the problem in seconds but you may need another gearbox from scrapyard but a mechanic might be able to see a problem with the linkage that i cannot see from a here in spain

needs a new clutch ,its grabbing and not clearing properly ,do not use force to change gear as these vehicle dont like it the syncros break ,stop engine put in gear clutch down then start engine Cannot really answer the wear in the gearbox question without a drive though but from what you descibe i would say clutch but it could the syncros but not on all gears ,normally second goes then thrid and fourth then finally first .best bet is to get a local mechanic to have a drive and then post what he says on here by answering my reply then i will get it .

Hello Russ, your mechanic is completely right.

Possible motor mount worn. Stop at a reputable garage, they should be able to confirm for you at a glance.

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.

Sounds like a stripped reverse gear. And for the second gear probally need a new gear (1st 2nd) and the syncros with a new hub. If too much metal from the gears has already made it's way around in the bearings through the transmission oil you might be looking at a new transmission. The Golf 3 generation had many problems with reverse gears. Sorry to be the one to tell you.