I just had my t56 rebuilt it's not in the car but cycling through the gears on the ground I cant get it in reverse. I was wondering if this is normal?

 

Yes.

 

yes it does, but no thats not normal for my recent experience (Saturday). I just got through rebuilding mine and could get into every gear on the ground and installed

 

If your Reverse Lockout Solenoid is working properly you should only be able to put it into reverse when the car is running and you're below a certain speed (5mph?) or the key is turned in the ON position. Otherwise, reverse should be locked out.

 

The reverse lockout solenoid only engages when it has electrical power. You should be able to shift the transmission into reverse while it's out of the car. I know, because I've done it.

If you're just sticking a screwdriver through the shift rod, it takes a little extra effort to twist it far enough to engage reverse. Push harder

 

My understanding is the older transmissions require power to unlock reverse and the newer transmissions require power to lockout reverse, and that it changed around 2001.

With the older transmissions that are locked out you can overcome the lockout spring and it will go into reverse. Apparently it was designed that way so a failed solenoid or failed wiring or failed BCM won't completely lockout reverse.

 

Speaking of reverse lockouts, suddenly today I'm having trouble getting my car into reverse. I had to make sure I could drive forward out of any parking situation. I have never had any problems with this before. Even with two hands I was having problems. If I need a new lockout where besides a dealer can I buy that? Can the lockout be fixed? On youtube there's a video on how to disable it, but all the comments are about how potentially dangerous that can be. Where can I buy trans parts? Sorry if I've hijacked a thread, but I thought this could help me too.

 

BTW, reverse works fine once I'm in gear. Getting into reverse is suddenly the problem. No symptoms even when driving yesterday. What could have happened. Drove fine all day going forward, 1-6.

 

Is it hard to get to the right or hard to push forward into reverse?

 

yes

 

Try putting it into first, then second, then reverse. I have to do that sometimes when it's being a pain.

 

Which part? There was an OR in the question.

 

I am very upset about this sudden occurrence so I was trying to be a little humorous. I have tried moving the lever in all directions, using two hands sometimes to push the shifter to the right. With a lot of effort I have gotten it into reverse when I had no choice, when I could I parked so that I could drive forward to leave a parking space. I put it into reverse a few times before shutting it off. I was wondering is this only a problem with the reverse lockout? I found a video on youtube that seemed to indicate that is the situation and it could be fixed by disabling the lockout by removing the internal guts of it. The comments all replied about how dangerous this was to do because it would be too easy to grab reverse when driving forward. If all this was true, I would like to repair this properly but I wanted to know where you can buy trans parts such as the complete lockout assembly and how much it would cost? What's really weird about all this is that I drove the car the day before without a moment of any indication that a problen was forthcoming. I use my car quite a bit for work and daily driving. It currently has 147,000 miles on it, all clutch parts have only 40,000 miles. The car shifts fine going through 1-6.

 

You do know I asked because it makes a difference, not for the hell of it? If the shifter ONLY won't easily go right past the 5-6 gate but otherwise works fine then it's the lockout. Also, if it's the lockout you can apply more force to the right (maybe 15-20 lbs of pressure on a stock shifter) and it should go just fine. I was playing around and could overcome the lockout with one hand fairly easily when using the stock shifter. The short throw shifter requires a heavier push, obviously, but it still isn't that hard. Once the shifter clicks right it should go to reverse as easily as it always did.

If the reverse gear just doesn't want to engage then it's likely an issue in the shifter or the transmission.

And that is why saying "it won't go to reverse" is useless to anyone trying to diagnose your problem.

My car is a 98 and it is locked out with the key off. Multiple people with newer cars have posted how their shifter would go to reverse when they tried to shift into 5th from 4th while driving foward and the end result was replacing the lockout solenoid fixed their problem. So, this makes me thing you have another issue other than the lockout solenoid failing.

 

Sorry not true. Just replace reverse gear and when put back together i could go through all the gears before i put it back in the car. There was no way i was not going to check,if you know what i mean. I would torched the car if i put it back together and not checked and it didn't go into gear.

 

I went to my car and went through all the gears with the key off quite easily, but to get into reverse it required two hands and a strong push to the right. I didn't try it with the key on but on Friday when it started it was difficult when the car was running too. Once it is in gear reverse drives fine. So I'm thinking of removing the solenoid and trying it with the car stationary to see if that makes a difference. I have to raise it to remove my wheels anyway for a tire change this week. I found the solenoid for sale at Rock Auto and Amazon for about the same price. The solenoid seems to be activated when the key is on I'm guessing. Any thoughts?

 

Try again with the key in the "On" position. The function of the solenoid changed between years and some require power to work. My 2001 cannot be put in reverse when the car is off. Only once power is applied does the car go into gear. You can force it into reverse as the solenoid was designed that way. So we already know when you do not have power the solenoid doesn't work and must be muscled into reverse. It's possible you solenoid needs to be replaced.

 

I'll be going to work on my car shortly so I'll be trying that when I do. The solenoid is only about $60, not too expensive. Not that I want to throw away the money but cheap enough to try a new one. Maybe it's just stuck internally. I'll be back later to let you know what I find.

 

Here is what the 2003 service manual says about it.

***
Reverse Inhibit Description and Operation
The reverse inhibit solenoid is a safety feature which prevents an inadvertent shift into reverse at speeds above 5 km/h (3 mph). The system consist of the following components:
l The powertrain control module (PCM).
l The reverse inhibit solenoid.
With the ignition ON, battery voltage is supplied directly to the reverse inhibit solenoid. At forward speeds above 5 kp/h (3 mph) the PCM grounds the control circuit of the reverse inhibit solenoid. This energizes the solenoid and mechanically blocks the shift lever from going into the REVERSE position.
***

So, this says the solenoid needs power to lock-out the shifting meaning the solenoid just burning out would not cause your issue. If you test the voltage between the wires, the solenoid shouldn't be powered until the car is moving.

You may be right about it simply being jambed in the lockout position though.

The same description is in all years 2001-2004 but 2000 and earlier the manual changes and it just doesn't say which way the lockout works, only that it has one.

 

I took the car out for a short ride before raising it to do some other work. Reverse took some effort to get into with the key on or off, but once in gear it drives fine backing up with no issues. Just wondering if anyone knows if I can just access the solenoid to remove it once it is jacked up with the wheels off. I was doing an oil change since I'm taking my wheels to get new tires installed this week. According to the service manual you need to lower the trans to change the solenoid. As far as the possibility of the solenoid being stuck, the video on youtube seemed to imply that could be the case. In the video the person shows to remove the guts of the solenoid because there was a problem with the spring and reinstall it so that there is nothing internal to restrict accessing reverse gear. The comments after the video all advise against not having any form of lockout for fear of accessing reverse when driving forward into fifth. So I am thinking of changing it and seeing what happens as long as I don't have to drop the trans to get to it. As I mentioned it is not very expensive.