Reverse slipping badly

[Paulg390]

Hi, I bought a 1991 SVX a year ago and noticed it slipped a bit when reversing (I.e. engine revs rose but speed didn’t) but it wasn’t too bad. I put it straight into dry storage for a year while I sold some other cars, then last week I took it of storage to find that reverse is a good as useless, engine revs but car doesn’t reverse unless on completely flat ground, slightest incline and no movement at all.
Does this sound terminal for the transmission or should I try oil and filter change first ? All forward gears seem fine... all suggestions welcomed..

[Blacky]

Did you check the level of the transmission fluid? It could be very low. I know it sounds silly but start with the basics.

[Paulg390]

Originally Posted by Blacky

Did you check the level of the transmission fluid? It could be very low. I know it sounds silly but start with the basics.

Thanks, sorry should have said that but yes indeed that was the first thing I checked... looked fine in terms of colour and quantity...

[trophy956]

loss of reverse is a signal to the start of a major failure of a stage 1 4eat ,reverse is manually engaged and when failure from oil starvation starts it takes out the reverse clutch
if you have it rebuilt the best case to use is a 98 legacy or outback 4eat because they fixed the oil problem before they ended use in 99