So when the car warms up, and I go to put it in reverse, I often get a grinding. When cold, it's goes in without a problem. Any ideas?
I recently purchased a 1984 308QV with the same problem. Reversing out of the garage after intial start was never a problem, but after driveing some distance, it would grind going into reverse. After contacting the previous owner if he also had this, he advised me to put the car in 1st gear prior to going into reverse. Not sure if this is only a mask of a problem, but the grinding going into reverse hasn't occurred since. Give it a try and let me know if it works for you too.
I too usually engage another gear before putting in reverse.. But remember you also need to push down slightly on the shift knob when going into reverse
It was typical on old British cars to put it in 2nd before going into 1st for the same reason, no synchro on 1st in those.
When the car/transmission is cold, the input shaft stops spinning quickly due to the friction of the cold oil. Thus no grinding. When the oil in the transmission gets up to temperature, the input shaft will spin longer after the clutch is depressed. If you try and go into reverse too soon (before the shaft stops spinning), it will grind. Everybody's solution of putting it into first solves the problem as the first gear synchros force the input shaft to stop. Then it will go into reverse w/o grinding.
My car stopped doing that when I changed the gear oil. If it hasn't been done recently, try that. It's an easy DIY project. JIM
