No Reverse Gear

[bazzerbeeza]

1986 126 Air Cooled.
After surviving the gearbox quagmire for a long time the dreaded day has arrived when I cannot get into reverse, all the other gears are fine. I am hesitating on adjusting things in case I affect the other gears and am wondering if it something to do with the reverse gate as I push the lever down and across but it will not pull back into reverse. All advice welcome.

[bis13]

first get under the car and have a look at the gear linkage and check that both ends are tight and that the rubber is in good order, next check that all fixing points to the body work are in place and are tight then check the condition and position of the gearbox mounts. they should be alligned parallel and the rubber should be hard and not at all soft or sticky. also check that the clutch cable is tight as if its not being engaged correctly then it can cause selection problems. 

[barkingwilhelmina]

have just had exactly the same problem for months and have finally found the fault. the flexible coupling between the selector rod in the centre tunnel and the gearbox (underneath the car), has two recessed washers that fit into the holes either end. make sure these are not on the outside of the fitting, they must be in between the coupling and the selector rods. as soon as i swapped these round reverse was back!
you wouldn't think it would make any difference but it does.
i hope this is the case for you as it is a really easy fix.

good luck!

[bazzerbeeza]

Thanks for your replies, I will get down and under at the weekend and see if I can spot anything.