Accidentally throwing a manual into reverse

"sellphones2493" (sellphones2493) 01/12/2015 at 14:40 • Filed to: None

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Has anyone ever thrown a manual into reverse by mistake, when going to sixth (or fifth) gear? I've always had the fear that I'd accidentally do it.

Are we talking a stall out, or a complete destruction of the transmission?

For Sweden > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:42

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Things would go boom.

505Turbeaux > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:44

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I always let the syncros remind me I am being a doofus

Party-vi > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:44

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It grinds like a motherfucker. Then you and the guy behind you who sees your reverse lights kick on both collectively shit your pants.

Sn210 > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:44

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I think most modern manuals have a lock-out that wouldn't let you even if you tried. My biggest problem was shifting from 5th to 6th when I first got my TL. I kept dropping it into 4th on the highway until I got used to it.

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:45

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It depends. It would probably be spinning fast enough to skip over the teeth, making a scary noise but not grenading. If you really reefed on it and got it to catch, transmission = bye bye!

Ferrero1911 > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:46

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I think if you know enough to fear doing it, you're very unlikely to actually do it. I've never done it, but I only have 5 gears, so it makes it very unlikely.

I'm sure if I did try to shift into reverse while in 5th it would destroy reverse since there are no syncros, but it also probably wouldn't even go into reverse, more like just bounce off the gear, since it has trouble going into reverse even at a dead stop.

MonkeePuzzle > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:46

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Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:47

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By mistake? No.. But I have done it.. '79 Opel Kadett 1.2 at full speed (120km/h), took some force but managed to get the bastard in reverse, dumped the clutch.. WOOOOHOOOO...

Destroyed the tranny, spun like a mofo, was fun.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:48

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It's damn near impossible to throw a manual into reverse while the car is moving forward at any good speed. Maybe if it was doing 2 or 3 mph then you'd be able to, but otherwise I can't see it happening. If you do try it, there's just a whole lot of harmless noise.

crowmolly > Sn210 01/12/2015 at 14:48

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Even old school 60's cars had reverse lock-out.

A lot of new cars have RLO solenoids that lock out reverse once you start traveling above a certain speed. You can push through it anyway if you are a slapnuts but that doesn't typically happen.

Svend > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:48

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Thankfully all the cars I've been in you either have to really throw the gearshift over to the left to get it into reverse or you have to move the gearshift over and then push down on the greashift to complete the operation or lift a collar at the top of the gearshift with your fingers to get it into gear.

Tipo Stradale Fever > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:48

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Is it even possible to do that at high speed? If youŽd manage to do that though, itŽd be carnage on your transmission.

KirkyV > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:49

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I've never done it, but I can see how it'd happen on a lot of older manuals without reverse-gear locks of one sort or another. I think the only thing that'd make it likely to happen with me is if I somehow got used to driving a six-speed, and then switched back to my current five-speed.

BattlingMaxo > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:50

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You're going to do some grinding and cause some damage but you'll never get it (reverse) engaged at speed, not in the course of normal shifting. Try it at low speed sometime, preferably in somebody's borrowed beater, and you'll see how hard it is. An auto, on the other hand.... carnage.

RazoE > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:52

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It has a lock-out. Sometimes I can't get it into reverse when doing 2 mph or so. Then again my transmission doesn't have a reverse synchro, so even at a stop I'll have to jimmy it.

As Du Volant > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 14:54

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They actually tested this on Mythbusters- it'll grind briefly and kick back into neutral, no worse than missing a shift. Holding the shifter back to reverse they were unable to get it to go into gear, it just ground like crazy- and after the car stopped reverse still worked fine.

Scorpio GTX1 > For Sweden 01/12/2015 at 14:56

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The technical term is "splodey."

RazoE > MonkeePuzzle 01/12/2015 at 14:58

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that grind made baby Jesus cry...='(

macanamera > For Sweden 01/12/2015 at 15:10

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Transmision soup, served with metal shavings.

For Sweden > macanamera 01/12/2015 at 15:13

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That is a Volvo in the picture: your comment checks out.

E92M3 > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 15:23

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It's pretty hard to do. Most transmissions have a lock out (require you to push down on the shifter to get in reverse), or it's REALLY far from the other gears, or it will just grind at you. It's almost impossible to do it accidentally.

BJ > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 15:24

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The only manual cars I've owned did not have this problem:

TJDMAX > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 15:35

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Its pretty much mechanically impossible. A) Most transmissions have a lock out as some have described, keeping you from doing this very thing. And B) Even if the lockout didn't exist, the synchro would have to start spinning the transmission in reverse before it allowed the gear to be selected...and while travelling forward this would be mechanically impossible. You basically should have no fear of this happening to you if you are driving a manual.

NaturallyAspirated > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 16:12

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I tried once, in my roommate's Toyota Paseo. That thing ran so many RPMs at highway speed that I always felt like it should have had another gear. It make a horrific grinding sound when I tried shifting from 5th to R, which alerted me to the fact that I was doing something I shouldn't have.

HarperT5 > sellphones2493 01/12/2015 at 16:56

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Good luck trying, not something you could do accidentally - it requires a G*dalmighty effort to push that shifter into R mode when you are doing anything over 10mph!