mx5cartalk.com

So my na6 decided to get stuck in reverse. Symptoms:

-clutch must be in to start, or it stalls
-the gear stick won't move into 3rd, 4th, 5th, or reverse
-in neutral the car reverses
-in 1st (and I'm assuming 2nd), the car sits still as if reverse is fighting against it

Pretty sure this all happened after my mate was sitting in my car, with the engine off, shifting through the gears with no clutch. So yeah, it's pretty rooted.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, cos my car is essentially useless for the moment.

Cheers, Kieren

Uh oh... sounds expensive.

The best advice I have for you: Find a cheap second hand box (there are a couple on eBay right now, or otherwise try Mania or MX5Plus). Put new seals in it, and grab yourself a clutch kit and a new rear main oil seal for the engine. Then get your tools, a case of beer and some mates, and get to work.

There might be an easy fix. From inside the cabin work your way down to where the gear lever goes into the gearbox extension housing by removing centre console, gear boots, etc. Check that the ball of the gearlever is still properly mounted in the housing and that the nylon bush at the very end of the lever is still on and not smashed. It might just be loose bolts or a $20 bush.

Thanks heaps guys.

Manga_blue, I really hope it's something cheap and simple like that haha. I'll see if I can find out if that's it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgzilEXQL8

watch this

Holy sh*t dude, thanks so much! You're a legend, that's perfect

Does one have to remove the transmission to change the switch.

Kazman, did you manage to fix yours.

Does it affect all 5 speeders?

Alright so I managed to get it fixed, thanks to the video posted by C2888.

Supposedly it's a common 5 speeder problem, where the reverse shift rail gets stuck in the engaged position. What I did was remove the old reverse light switch (which turned out to be the newer model I was supposed to replace it with), stick a stubby Phillips head in the hole, pry the rail back to it's disengaged position, and reinstalled the old reverse light switch.

Easy enough fix, and best of all, free! Well if you have the newer model reverse light switch already installed, which I did.

snshami, you don't need to remove the transmission to change the switch, but it is pretty awkward to unplug the wiring connections because they're not visible, so you have to do it by touch and in an awkward position haha

Thanks heaps for your help guys, I'm glad it turned out to be something simple

Phew, glad to hear it!

Make sure you extract some compensation from your mate - he owes you a 6 pack of beer