I think I may have brought this up a while back im not sure if it was on this forum but my 95z28 a4 is having some weird reversing issues. When shifting form drive position to reverse its having a nasty grinding? when it engages and throughout the entire time it is reversing. It DOESNT display this when shifting from park to reverse. What could this be? The fluid is good, the u joints are ok (I will be replacing those soon) and the ring and pinion was just replaced about a year ago.

 

Pull your bellhousing dust cover and take a look around in there. See if the flexplate was hitting the cover, or if the torque converter attaching bolts are hitting the engine. You could have close tolerances and forward or rearward thrust of the crank (only a few thousandths) when changing gears/torque direction could be making things hit. Your engine's crank thrust bearing could also be worn, allowing the crank to move front to back more than spec, which could certainly cause a collision of parts.

 

This is out of my hands ill be taking it up to a shop soon. Its just weird how it only does it in that one sequence. It runs just smooth from Park to reverse but from drive to reverse is nasty. Thanks for responding.

 

This is ringing a bell for me but I can not put my finger on it. Like it was something I was told about in class but never saw at the dealership. Something is not allowing a pressure drop on the first gear clutch pack. A stuck valve or dirt/check ball or something.

It would make sense that it would not be a problem if first gear clutch pack never had pressure than bleeding off the pressure would not be a problem. This could be a valve body repair which should be much cheaper then a complete rebuild. Warning: Most chain type shops are still going to want to sell you a complete rebuild.

 

or, you weigh the value of the "problem"

if it shifts fine, no slipping, downshifts fine, park to reverse is fine, then slow down the process. You come to a complete stop from forward when going to reverse but let the gear selector sit in the neutral position for a second or 2 before sliding to reverse, does it still grind?

If not, it's your call and you modify your driving and monitor the situation

on manual transmissions, reverse isn't synchronized so sometimes you just can't get into reverse without a quick stop in neutral and releasing the clutch for a second