OK this is really strange, and I'm hoping that somebody you there has heard of this before. (I have a 87 2.4 sunfire)

when I try to put the car into reverse, the 3 speed auto tranny catches right away. I can tell it's in reverse. BUT... the car will not back up at all, in fact it feels like I'm trying to drive with my foot on the breaks, or I'm backing up into a brick wall.

here's another strange thing, when it does that, even putting the car into neutral does not free it up to go backwards. The car always seem to be OK in forward gears, but the wheels lack the ability to spin in a backwards direction at all.

When it does that, I can usually drive forward for a bit, and then try R again, and it will give me reverse, but I'm sick of having to back into every parking space!

I'd take it to a transmission shop, but it doesn't do it every time, and I'd like to see see if anybody else has experienced this problem before I play "hit and Miss" with them.

thanks for any help you can offer.

oops.. typo.. I have a 2.2, not a 2.4...

I was thinking of my grand am...

dang, why can't I edit my posts...

it's a 97, not an 87

you have to be a premi member

My guess is the parking pawl is messed up. I have never torn one apart so i cant be sure. But that makes sence to me.


That or the valve body.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Thursday, February 07, 2008 12:49 PM

Check your rear brakes for sticking.Do you use the emergency (hand) brake when parked? May not be releasing properly until the car rolls fwd.

i would guess on the parking pawl too. it seems like its not releasing when you go from park to reverse.

can a parking pawl also come into play if I'm going right from drive to reverse without touching park?

i'm not an expert by any means but maybe a linkage or something is wore out and its letting the pawl go into place before the shifter is in park

ok, the shop thought it was a linkage, but when they took the pan off they said the linkage was fine, but there was part of a bearing lying in the bottom of the pan, and they want to do a rebuild

I can't afford the $1000 they want, but I'm considering either dropping in a transmission that I buy from a salvage yeard, or taking it out myself, letting them rebuilt it, and putting it back in to save money

I'm off to go look for a tutorial on how to pull the tranny, let me know if you know where one is.

i have a 5 speed swap for sale evrything you need and its the gatege trany