Reverse Gear Issues

[Codey90]

Hi all,

I bought my first car (Toyota Aygo 2015 Manual Transmission) in February and I've started to notice an issue with the reverse gear.

When reversing, the shifter will go into the reverse position and the reverse camera will activate but the car has not engaged reverse and lifting the clutch will be as though I'm in neutral. I am shifting as far as the car will let me into the slot.

It sometimes takes a few attempts to get it to engage reverse properly and sometimes it will make a grinding noise when it finally engages.

Ive got it booked in for a look over on Thursday as the car is under warranty but they've said if it's not a fault or the fault is not under warranty (Wear and tear) there will be a charge of £115 for diagnostic checks.

Has anyone had this issue before or know what could be causing it? The car was last serviced in February 2022.

[Billyboy81]

Just lift the clutch and try again. Gently. Don't force it or you will get the crunch.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Billyboy81 said:

Just lift the clutch and try again. Gently. Don't force it or you will get the crunch.

+1

Very common issue with especially front wheel drive cars.

The reverse gears don't have synchromesh so if the gears don't align nicely they won't engage so lifting the clutch and trying again allows the gears to re-align.

[flash22]

Double clutch it or into 5th then reverse, any problems with 5 gear ?

[Codey90]

1 minute ago, flash22 said:

Double clutch it or into 5th then reverse, any problems with 5 gear ?

No problems with 5th, just the reverse. I think I'll try the double clutching later today though as I'd rather give that a go than fork out £115 for a mechanic to tell me the same thing

[Cyker]

I usually try the clutch-in-neutral-release-clutch-clutche-in-again-try-reverse-again trick, and if that doesn't work do the put-it-into-the-gear-next-to-it-then-back-to-reverse trick (Usually 1st or 4th gear depending on the gear selector pattern). Usually one of those works!

 

[haelewyn]

 

What's the mileage on your Aygo please ?

On my new Aygo, 4000 km on the clock, there is almost never a problem with reverse.

It wasn't designed with this problem.

Wear on the clutch sometimes is a thing that comes with difficult to select gears.

You said it's a thing you saw coming on recently, which supports the story.

Could be a gearbox problem but knowing the Aygo's faults, it's a lot more likely the clutch is bad.

One trick is : try to select the reverse gear while your car engine is still off.

If it engages well, there is probably a problem coming up with the clutch.

Have your clutch cable adjusted. This should be done at every maintenance as the Aygo clutch cable is not a self adjusting one.

If your clutch cable is never adjusted (very common to be neglected by dealers and independent garages), sooner or later it can give you problems like this.

Check if there is free play on the clutch like it should be or have it checked.

Selecting a forward gear to stop the moving parts inside the gearbox first, then select reverse is a good trick / way and usually works. But it doesn't take away what is wrong or worn.

My gut feeling says adjusting the clutch cable will solve your problem but eventually you will need a clutch. They are cheap to install, that is an advantage.

[Cyker]

Could also be the gear selector cables need adjusting - That was an issue on the Mk2 Yaris which could stop you getting certain gears.

[haelewyn]

He would be able to notice that if he tries to select the reverse while engine is off.

 

If it works with engine off, will rather be the clutch or clutch cable.

If he can't select reverse with engine off, your idea would be likely.. or gearbox problem. This last one must be very rare though..

[Guest]

Surely if it's a clutch related problem then OP would notice problems selecting the forward gears as well?

[haelewyn]

Since he states the problem only starts to occur now, having problems could start in any (just one )gear, IMHO.

Adjusting the cable is a clutch related problem too...

One situation does not equal the other; There is also a gradation in how much a clutch is worn.
 

[flash22]

It's not the clutch as op states they can find all other gears, reverse IIRC is bottom right, so both linkages will be at their limits (push-pull type setup) 10mm of cable movement equates neutral into gear

worn/stretched cables, ill adjustment or loose mountings, that's not ruling out it's not an internal gearbox issue like the reverse hub clutch has gone bad on the output shaft

[haelewyn]

This story seems to agree with the possibility of clutch being bad and just reverse selecting being affected :

 

""""""Question: I find it increasingly difficult to shift into reverse on my 1991 Toyota Camry. The manual transmission just seems to get stuck and won’t go into the reverse position; it goes into first without any problem.

......................

It often happens because the clutch is out of adjustment and doesn’t allow one of the two transmission shafts to stop fully. It can also occur if you try to shift too quickly into reverse, because the shafts can take about one second to stop. A warped clutch plate will also cause this problem."""""""

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-24-hw-49649-story.html

 

 

An other possibility : low / dirty transmission fluid can cause this kind of gear problem too, I guess..

[Guest]

I think we need to give OP a list of things to try, rather than jumping straight to the worst (most expensive to fix) case. All of these will fit the symptoms described:

1) Lack of synchromesh on reverse meaning reverse gears will not engage on every attempt.

2) Need for adjustment of clutch cable.

3) Need for adjustment of gear shift cables.

4) Clutch replacement needed.

5) Gearbox problems.

[FROSTYBALLS]

On 4/9/2022 at 4:01 PM, Codey90 said:

they've said if it's not a fault or the fault is not under warranty (Wear and tear) there will be a charge of £115 for diagnostic checks.

This is common for dealers, regardless of marque. If they do an investigation and the issue isn't covered under warranty, they need to cover the cost of time spent looking at your vehicle. So depending on local labour rates, a charge of £115 could be around 1.5 hours labour (less in areas like London).