reverse lockout/manual transmission
 

83 240d. new purchase. have no reverse lockout. do not have to lift up on the shifter to engage reverse. this is unsettling. anyone have suggestions on a repair. thank you

I'm guessing something internal inside the shifter is broken. Maybe the previous owner did not know about having to lift up and just jammed it into reverse???? Lift off the shift boot and see if anything is broken. FWIW, I had that happen to a 5spd 190e that I used to drive. When test driving it, the owner told me that you did not have to lift up to get it into reverse.

On my old VW Jetta you had to push Down on the shifter to get it into Reverse (it was right next to 1st) but the bushing were so screwed up that you had to pull it into 2nd and quickly throw it into 1st so it was fairly easy to throw it into Reverse with out intending to. The good thing about Reverse though was the fact that it didn't go forward as far as first so it was pretty easy to tell the diff. Another thing was 1st was only used to get the car rolling so I didn't have to worry about going into reverse while the car was rolling. How's the shift pattern on your 240D look like??

I dunno how that story helps but I figured I'd throw it out.


Wait, I remembered why I posted this!!
Just pay attention to what gear your in before letting the clutch back out (shouldn't be hard once your use to the way the gears feel) and you'll be fine.