Jammed in reverse

I've just had a short trip in my caddy with no problems at all.. As I was reversing it on to the drive at my dads house it has become jammed in reverse.

I've checked all the linkages as best I can and nothing seems to be damaged or out of place. There was a push fit linkage that went to the box that had yellow plastic ends on. This had popped off however having refitted it there is still no change.

The shifter is stiff to move and does not select any gears although it is not stuck where it should be for reverse.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as it is now stuck in the middle of my dads drive! Cheers!

Does the gearstick correlate to the gear the car is in? If not, then its 95% certain that the gear linkage is damaged or out of place. But then you say you've checked this and can't see anything wrong.

So it must be the internals of the gearbox - or you've missed something.

Sounds like you need to get a garage or a 2nd opinion on it, maybe?


Can you deselect reverse and get it in neutral with the engine off?

I've seen cars jammed in reverse and a bit of abuse has gotten them out of it again.

Thanks for that. The only thing I could see was that linkage at the box but thats reconnected and not made a difference.

The shifter is not matching what it's in anymore but is not selecting anything now.

I'll have to have a look when again when I can borrow a spare pair of hands.. Just hoping it's nothing expensive!

Cheers

there's much more to the linkage than the bits you can see in the engine bay, its quite awkwardly located underneath the car. Get it somewhere safe, so you can jack it up properly and look at it at your leisure. I'll assume the car still moves ok if you press the clutch in and push it around.

I've had it jacked up already and checked underneath the shifter.
It still had the boot over it and was quite clean and tidy underneath. Nothing seemed out of place under there either. There was a hook over the main bracket but that still seemed to be in place…
I need to wait for a pair of hands so that I can move it further up the drive and try fiddling it a bit more..

Disconnect the gear linkage and see if you can select the gears directly at the gearbox.

paul_c said

Disconnect the gear linkage and see if you can select the gears directly at the gearbox.

Do that, then if that works undo the pinch bolt on the linkage underneath the car.  When this is loose put the box in 3rd by hand, get someone to hold the now floppy gear stick in about 3rd position and then re-tighten the pinch bolt.  You should then be able to select whatever gear you like!

Thanks for your help… I seem to have fixed it!

I managed to rock it a bit on my own and got it to release. I think it was just the reverse linkage that was causin the problem. The plastic cap on the end of the rod is a little loose so might want a new one..

 Hopefully that's The problem solved. Its now selecting all gears again..

Fingers crossed it will get me home!
Thanks again!

There is no reverse linkage????? No worries, anyway its fixed now.