My wife drives a manual 97 Neon and the transmission will no longer go into reverse and it feels like something is blocking it. All 5 forward gears are working fine. The shift linkage bushings on the transaxle side are shot, gone even, but I can't even select reverse by manually manipulating the cables.

Sometime when I pull the selector down from fifth to reverse it fells like it catches on something. I can then swing the selector from right to left but I won't go down any further. When I release pressure I can hear a slight click and then I can move the selector down into second or fourth.

Any more ideas before I have to have the tranny pulled?

Thank you,
Jason

 

It could be the bushing on the side of the shifter. They go bad and rot out as well. Pull the console out and have a look. I had one of the bushings fall off on me while driving and had to stay in second gear all the way home.

If they are bad, try http://www.boogerracing.com/ for some new bushings. They are high quality and reasonably priced.