Reverse won't engage
 

So I was driving my '03 base today rather spiritedly, and then when I was trying to back into a parking spot shortly after, my reverse wouldn't engage, and it has not engaged since, I have to resort to pushing it when I want to reverse LOL (gonna do wonders for my glutes and legs?). I did my homework, read some threads, tried shifting into reverse from other gears like 1st or 4th, and this worked 1.5 times and than, nothing. When I push down and back, it FEELS like it's going to engage, but than just kinda engages 6th instead (it's a weird feeling and kinda hard to explain). I still have all my other forward gears thankfully. And yes I know there's a few threads about how crappy our trannys are, and how everybody has gone thru 15 of them before hitting 50k miles, but not many of them address this particular issue, and in those that do, the unanimous solution to this is: "go to the stealership and have'm replace it under warranty". Now please bare with me. I have an '03 that I bought second hand (the Air Force doesn't pay me enough to buy a new one lol) and therefore do not have my car under any kind of warranty, so the stealership route is a very expensive option for me, all things considered. Does anybody have any ideas of what it might be, any possible solutions, anybody else deal w/ this w/o going to Nissan, anything? I need my Z as it is my DD. Thanx in advance!

2003 is known for transmission problems. "No reverse" is uncommon but possible. Check the regional forum. Several members are junk yard savvy, and may have access to a used transmission. Contact regional shops. Place a WTB ad in the regional marketplace.

It could be as simple as a bolt loosening in your shift linkage. You might check into that.

Try putting it into reverse with the car off, then start it and see if you can use reverse.

just park in a spot where you wont have to reverse :dunno:

thanx guys!... I tried putting it in reverse w/ the car off this morning but it still wouldn't engage. I'll see if I can't get it up on a lift and check if there's a bolt lose, if its something more then I guess I'm gonna have to start trolling the regional forums Lol. I'll try and keep this thread updated in case anybody else has this problem, uncommon as it might be.

have you pushed down on the shifter?






















JK.

**Update: For future reference, just incase anybody else ever has this problem**

Thanx KornerCarver for the suggestion. I finally got the car up on a lift and was checking all the bolts to see if any had come loose, and while in the process I discovered that several little rubber o-ring/washers in the linkage had been severely damaged and torn out of place. I applied a bit of grease, replaced them with new ones, and than replaced my plastic washers before I reassembled the linkage and it's been good as new since. It's shifting better than it was when I bought the car (used) lol. I knew our trannys were notoriously problematic, but I never thought I'd lose full use of a gear due to a little rubber ring. Oh well, it's fixed, so wtv. Thanx again guys for the help! I hope this info is useful to anybody else who ever encounters this same problem.