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  #1  
Old 01-11-2003, 09:44 AM
montrose
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92 SVX Tranny-no reverse

Last night after I had been driving for about 10 miles I shifted into reverse, only to find that it would not engage. It behaved as though it was in neutral, and made no unusual noises. The transmission operated correctly in any of the forward gears. This morning, after a cold soak (about 20 degrees overnight) I started the car and found that it would go into reverse, but slipped excessively. And after running for a short time in the driveway, it behaved as last night, with very little signs of engaging. And, again, no unusual noises. Prior to yesterday, reverse had operated flawlessly.

Trying to diagnose the problem, and to determine what checks I can make prior to consider removal of the transmission. Would appreciate advice, and if there are any good manuals readily available.

Fluid level looks good, and the fluid also looks clean.


Thanks in advance,
Joel
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  #2  
Old 01-11-2003, 03:03 PM
svx_commuter's Avatar
svx_commuter svx_commuter is offline
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Location: North Jersey
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I took a quick look in the service manual and it says the select cable is a possibility. Have you tried to move the selector slightly forward or backward to see if that helps?

How long have you had the car? It's AWD?
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Old 01-11-2003, 03:30 PM
montrose
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The car is AWD. I have owned it for about a year. Yes, I have tried moving the selector a bit. When the car is first started after being out in the cold for a while, it does try to grab a little. And, as I said, it does shift properly in the forward gears. No signs of slipping in forward gears. And until yesterday, there was absolutely no sign of any trouble in reverse.

Joel
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  #4  
Old 01-11-2003, 05:50 PM
lee lee is offline
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Location: Indialantic, Florida
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My alldata CD has 5 possible Xs in the column for engine revs when reverse selected:

select cable
select lever
control valve
low & reverse clutch
reverse clutch

since you got some movement after a cool-down, I'm guessing the clutches, best of luck
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  #5  
Old 01-11-2003, 06:52 PM
svx_commuter's Avatar
svx_commuter svx_commuter is offline
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This may or may not help. Try removing the resistor behind the battery. This will increase the line pressure. If it is the control valve or sticking clutch plates it may help. Your power light will blink when the engine is turned on with the resistor disconnected.

Try not to rev the engine when R does not kick in. It may wear the clutches down more if it's them.

Change the fluid if you do not know when the fluid was changed last.

As far as that selector goes, put it in R and then gradually and very slowly, so slow that you think it's not moving, slide it very slowly, first the one way and then the other. You have to make sure it is not the adjustment of the slector cable. It has to be done slow to give the tranny time to engage. Do not move it back and forth nd be progressive withe position.
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Old 01-11-2003, 08:11 PM
montrose
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John,

I had tried your suggestion with the selector, with no apparent change.

I just tried removing the resistor. The power light stays on for a moment after the other lights go off when the engine is first started, but then goes off and stays off. But line pressure does seem to increase considerably, as evidenced by the hard engagement when D is selected. And reverse does "grab" a little better, but definately is still slipping excessively. Reverse does engage promptly, it is not a delayed engagement.

Again, reverse operation was 100 percent normal prior to yesterday. I mention this because I would think that if it was just wear of the clutch plates, I would think the failure would be more gradual.

The car is a LSL that was built in 7/91. The transmission is original, and has about 80K miles on it, mostly highway miles.

Joel
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  #7  
Old 01-12-2003, 12:11 PM
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svx_commuter svx_commuter is offline
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Hi Joel,

The selector controls the reverse mode. It changes the fluid passages around so that the reverse clutch and reverse brake (tranny part) is engaged. The electrical parts for R are also used for other forward gears so I doubt if it's a solenoid problem.

I have no idea if this will work but,
You may want to leave the line resistor out for awhile. This increases the line pressure at idle speeds/light throttle. If it's the control valve or the clutches it may give them a different spot to run in. This will only work if those parts are hanging up.

You might want to chanage the fluid if it hasn't been changed in the past year or so and the external filter. It 's not much money.

Anyway to park so you don't need reverse? Has it got one of those original 92 radiators that plug up?

Have you done a lot of fast acceleration in reverse?

John
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