Hello all. New to the forum and new to me a 1997 Corvette targa top hatchback in a very sun faded torch red. Although I have only put a few hundred miles on the car I do really enjoy driving this car, but it has quite a few issues. The car already has 167,000 miles on her and most of the are drivability items are working good. Reverse worked perfectly fine till before it didn’t. Just recently I am no longer able to get the car into the reverse gear. On the previous outing with the car it took substantial force to get into the reverse gear. So the shifter will go all the way to the left, but will not go forward into reverse with engine running or off. It seems like there is something mechanical preventing it to engage into reverse. If I push hard enough I can get the reverse light switch to turn on the reverse lights, but I have to push real hard (say 15-20 pounds) which is just not right. the shift lever is stock. I am somewhat handy and did everything I have read on the forum. So I tried engine running clutch depressed going into third gear then neutral release clutch/depress clutch into reverse while lightly releasing the clutch and the shift lever will not go forward into reverse. So next thing I did a shifter alignment, several times but this did not work either. Lastly I have also removed the spool from the reverse lockout solenoid, but still no reverse. So I am thinking there may be a problem with the reverse selector fork pads may have broken? I will check the transmission fluid level tomorrow. But I am out of ideas of what else it could be. What do you all think it might be? I have no service history and the last owner had the car for at least 9 years and only put 8000 miles on the car in that time with just basic maintenance done to include 2 oil changes and a heater bypass due to leaking heater core.

 

Reverse can be a tough one in these cars, and you're on the right track with your diagnostics. I went through the ringer on my 2001 Z06 figuring out reverse... in the end I fixed it through transmission rebuild.
This list below are general ideas/comments:

• Shifter alignment
  • Sounds like you already covered this
• Reverse lockout solenoid
  • I'm not sure if you removed the spring mechanism... have you tried removing the entire reverse lockout solenoid?
• Clutch not releasing adequately
  • Testing with engine off but key on (or with reverse lockout solenoid removed) can tell you if the clutch is an issue - still not being able to shift to reverse in this manner tells me it's not a clutch problem.
• Internal transmission issue
  • There are several components which all need to be working / not worn out for reverse to work.
  • My 2001 Z06 @ 70k miles was REALLY struggling to enter reverse. After tearing apart the transmission I found that the reverse synchro slider had already been flipped (it's symmetrical / 2-sided) prior to my ownership! So that and almost all reverse components were replaced, and I modified/improved reverse synchro engagement (common issue with T56).

Long story short, if you still can't enter reverse easily with engine off, good shifter alignment, and reverse lockout solenoid completely removed, then I'd start considering a transmission rebuild.

 

Yup this above, One day mine was working fine and then it didnt. Went threw all the obivious but had to tear down. Found out my reverse fork pads were disengaged. Changed to bronze and like butter.

P.S. if you cant do the work yourself hope you have money saved or a credit card with over $1500 on it. It cost me for parts were 30 bucks and new trans oil. So around 150 bucks give or take to do it yourself.
And will your in there you have to consider a TT rebuild and clutch if you don't know if this was done recently. Add another minimize 800ish bucks. This is you doing the work. Total around say 1000.
Of course add on to that 1500 if more work needs to be done be side the reverse fork pads if thats the problem

 

So I finally got around to opening the back half of the transmission the other week. The problem was way worse than expected. Initially thought it would be shifter fork pads or brass blocker ring problems. I was so wrong in this diagnosis! So the problem was actually the last person that messed with this transmission. They replaced the shifter fork pads with the brass upgraded units. But than reassembled the main shaft gears wrong. The 5-6 driven gear was not seated/pressed on to the main shaft. So 5-6 gears did not have full gear tooth engagement (a little over 1/4” or .266 off). Secondly everything else was then spaced 1/4” back from where it was supposed be located on the main shaft. So the shift fork was ground down top and bottom and a 1/4” spacer was added under the shift fork. When everything is misaligned on the main shaft some parts we not included in the reassembly. So the wave washer and reverse plastic thrust washer and thrust washer were not installed. This in turn over time destroyed the reverse gear, reverse gear needle bearing, brass blocker gear, and the inner synchro gear, all the snap rings, and the main shaft support bearing and bearing spacers. I got all new part coming from TDP industries. And got everything cleaned up. So I hope to have this completed by next week, parts arrival dependent. I will post photos on Instagram if anyone cares to see the carnage. lol @zerogarage619

 

Wow, thanks for sharing your findings. I don't use IG and would be thrilled to see pics if you feel inclined to post them here!