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Hi
We have a 2011 Ford Fiesta 5 speed manual done 7000km and from time to time (at least 6 times since we bought the car in May this year) have a problem engaging reverse gear.
The gear shift becomes 'vague' when moving into the reverse slot, doesn't seem to engage yet we can't move it in any further. We release the clutch and the gears make an awful noise - so reverse hadn't been in place properly. One time my wife put it in reverse (or so we thought), moved her hand to release the handbrake, released the clutch pedal and the gear lever popped out of gear.
Our worry is if we need to do a reverse hill start with no room to move forward at all, that we'll get stranded - or maybe get stranded doing a 3 point turn.
The Ford dealer we purchased from said the gear cables were incorrectly adjusted so adjusted the selector cable but the problem continues. The Ford dealer now says this is characteristic of this car and that we should put the gear lever into a forward gear first, then reverse gear as this is all to do with the non synchro gearbox.
We have had numerous manual cars over the years and this has never been an issue. In the past our, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Honda cars simply get put in reverse and the car goes backwards as it should !
What's going on here and should we be accepting this problem as a characteristic of the car and put up with it? Thanks for your advice.
It's hard to say without experiencing the problem, although I can't say I've ever really experienced this problem with a Fiesta.
As the dealer says, it can be beneficial to engage a forward gear before selecting reverse due to no syncro on reverse gear. Some cars do have a syncro on reverse, which makes reverse easier to select. On a car without syncro on reverse, you need to be quite assertive with selecting reverse, which is opposite we've all been taught when selecting the forward gears.
Other than that, has the dealer offered you the opportunity to drive another similar car? It may be the non-syncro selection characteristic the dealer is referring to, in which case, another car will exhibit the same thing, so there's nothing that can be done.