S4 doesn't REVERSE! Please Help!!!

**Allaidback** · 08-23-2008 09:42 PM

don't know wtf is going on. The shifter will go in reverse, but pulls forward! Just started happening today after I changed the coolant temp sensor? All other gears work fine and I can go into reverse just fine, but the reverse lights don't turn on and the car pull forward like i'm in 1st gear, but more of a 5th gear pull? I have a jhm shifter and I just filled up the tranny fluid after replacing the output flange seal last week. Is there a fuse or switch that lets the car engage in reverse? I would think so since the reverse lights don't come on when in reverse? Please let me know anything I can do. Thanks!

**kastro** · 08-23-2008 09:45 PM

i read on something like this before.. has to do with umm something shifting off in the shifter area.. so .. when u put it in reverse it accually off track and going in 4th..u know?.. shift it back into place.. donno how or what not.. hope that helps.

**Allaidback** · 08-24-2008 01:23 PM

spent an hour trying to re-adjust it and still nothing. When looking at everything...reverse looks like it is going into itself. All other gears look different, but when I push down and put it in reverse I can also put it in second, so it is definitely going in 1st instead of reverse.

**Matt@JHM** · 08-24-2008 01:30 PM

Uh oh... did you use this hole to fill up the tranny?

**Audi S4 Turbo** · 08-24-2008 01:33 PM

You didn't install the shifter centering spring did you?

**haus4** · 08-24-2008 01:57 PM

oh boy, these both could be bad

**Siena** · 08-24-2008 01:57 PM

Oops!

**Jung** · 08-24-2008 02:40 PM

o shizzzz

I didn't have reverse for about a month, but that was just becasue of my lack of skillz in shift assembly. I had to Fred Flintstone it everywhere. So I thought that mayyyybe you had done the same thing, but if you did this, that sucks! good luck in fixing it dude

**Allaidback** · 08-24-2008 02:52 PM

didn't use that bolt to fill the tranny...followed Bentley guide. and what is a centering spring? Reverse has been engaging fine for the last 5 months after install of jhm shifter. This happened out of no where.

**AMC** · 08-24-2008 02:57 PM

its all shifter alignment man, same thing happened to me but i knew what it was. you have to find reverse while aligning it. when u try to pop it down and move it to reverse your only going in first, when u installed the short throw you didnt tighten those to rods that connect to the tranny as tight as they should have been. when it happened to me ( driving about 5k or so miles with the jhm shot shifter) it kept only goin foward i couldnt grab the reverse, i quickly realigned it and BAM it works! lol seems like ive been on a run on sentence or some shit lol

**Allaidback** · 08-24-2008 05:17 PM

i got it...it turns out that the shifter wasn't dropping far enough down to engage reverse. It just kept bottoming out so I just added another set of washers to the 4 outer bolts that hold down the assembly. Still trying to align it though! Thanks for the help guys!!!