denny

Everytime I put my cobalt SS/SC on reverse it grinds. Even if am stopped for a few seconds and the clutch pressed in fully!! anybody else has this problem?

discofreak

a lot of people have this problem, i think. i don't remember what the cause of it was, or why this trick works (you can do a search), but if you hold down the clutch, move it into first THEN into reverse (without letting up on the clutch, mind you, you don't want to go into whatever is ahead of you) it shouldn't grind. it worked for my friend and i, anyway.

BLKSS

Hey Denny,

You need to put in it first every time. If I dont it grinds.

R33P3R007

mine too. go to 1, then Reverse.

denny

Thanks guy's good tip. I will be doing that from now on. Only thing is ....is this normal should we bring the cars to GM for warranty work?

discofreak

reverse is the only gear in the transmission that isn't helical, and it's the only one that isn't always rotating with the output shaft. you have to put the reverse gear onto the shaft, and it's not helical, which is why you get the clash. so, no, the grind isn't something wrong and it's not warranty work...a lot of cars do it, it's just the way manual transmissions are designed.

i still have no idea why the first trick works, though, but it does.

SS33

^^^Word. I've experienced this in every manual that I've ever driven. Even my girls Hyundai. I don't know why the 1st gear trick works either, but it does work.

LittleStealthSS

Strange...

I don't think I've ever had this happen to mine.

I'd say about 80% of the time, I have it in reverse before I even start the car, but even so... I know I started it this morning, put it in reverse and didn't hear any grinding. Barely even a "click" sound.

My old Ranger did that once in a while, but my 91 Cav, 92 Camaro, 98 Tacoma and the SS don't do that.

WSFrazier

Doesn't happen in the 2.2/2.4's

DanJHartman

thats strange, ive never had this problem either, if it does happen i now know what to do

Tomtwtwtw

Never had it happen here either, but most of the time I put it in reverse after I turn the car off.

l Sh1ft l

Happened to me in my mustang.

zomghax

I've found that I can't put my car into Reverse first thing in the morning either. First is kinda tough too. Just won't go and I don't want to hammer it in. Third is always smooth like butter though. So for me it's Third, then Reverse. Then I can shift normally. Hmmmm.

(I leave me car in neutral while parked with the e-brake on, don't leave it parked in gear if that makes a difference)

funcritter

Hasn't happened to mine yet, I keep it in nuetral when parked. I did have an old Mitsubishi galant that did this but I never knew about the 1st gear trick then.

LSJFury

Very, very dead thread, I know, but I started having this problem literally just a few minutes ago.

I have an 06 SS S/C Stage 2 with 14,500 miles and I've owned it for 2 months.

In the couple months I've owned the car, this grinding problem has never happened except for just now. Every time I park the car I leave it in neutral, and the first thing I do after the car's warmed up is put it in reverse to get out of my driveway/parking spot. NEVER had any sort of grinding. Doesn't matter if the car's been running for a while either, slides right into reverse with no problem. However today I went on my lunch break and drove out to get food, then came back into the parking garage and sat in the car for a while with the motor running while I was eating. A better parking spot opened up on the other side of the garage so I figured I'd grab it before someone else took it.

So from neutral, I put clutch in for a good 5 seconds or so, and ease the shifter into reverse. As soon as the shifter makes it past the "gate", the bastard starts ginding like a ************. NEVER happened before. I played with it a few times holding the clutch in for 10-15 seconds then reverse... GRINDING. Push in clutch quickly and go into reverse somewaht quickly... GRINDING. Push clutch in, go to 1st, then into reverse holding clutch the whole time... slides right in no grinding. I drive to the other side of the garage and park and decide to play with reverse some more.... and I couldn't get it to grind. So it's like all of a sudden for no reason reverse grinds like a ************, then I drive 30 feet, and now it doesn't grind anymore. What the ****?!

I see from reading this thread that many people have discovered the trick of going into a forward gear and THEN into reverse, but there's no reason you should have to do that. All of the cars I've ever owned were 5-speeds and they NEVER did this. Even when the clutches went bad in all of them, they NEVER did this. I've never even known anyone who owned a 5/6-spd vehicle who had this problem. That's a lot of different cars, a lot of manual transmissions, and NONE of them ever did this grinding **** unless something in the clutch/tranny was obviously completely fucked.

Point is that I'm glad that I know this little "1st then reverse" trick, but this grinding **** going to reverse from neutral is NOT normal. If it were a normal thing, then why has my car or any of my other cars over the past YEARS never done this except for just now?

Hopefully since this thread died last year someone has gathered some more information on the subject and can tell me what's wrong.