No going back

My 3.1 1990 Lumina won't reverse. All the other forward gears are good, will select reverse but not engage...Any ideas? Ive checked fluid levels and it seems ok in color and quantity.

[STR]

my dad did that once to his 3.1
He was on a down ward hill, facing down, put the car in rev, let off the brake with no gas, the car went forward. Broke the linkage in the tranny.
Needed to get a new tranny.
We were driving arond for a month without rev. Got really good at it. :)

[Brian P]

IF you can wait till tomorrow, I got a story for you on this. I lost reverse too and fixed it

Sure! Anything at the moment will be a help...I feel like the car is falling apart around me!

[olds35]

way too many times, also heard stories of broken tranny mounts being involved with it somehow...

[Brian P]

ah crap I forgot to reply. Anyway, the reverse servo went out on my transmission, but it's not a hard job at all. It's on top of the trans, just under the brake master cylinder. There's a round aluminum cover over it. It's basically a piston that is activated by the fluid. The edge of mine cracked, a little spring washer broke, and it made a slight scar in the piston wall. Luckily my friend had a spare tranny so we just replaced it. To remove the cover, there's a little lock ring that you'll need to pry off with a screwdriver or something similar. It's pretty straightforward, hopefully this is your problem. Odds are a tranny shop wont do this repair for you, unless you have a friend in the business!

Thanks Brian, I'll have a go and let you know what happens. Can't believe how helpful you guys are... The car has been in and out of the Garage so many times and you guys on this web site have been so much more help in the last few days than the garage has in the last year!