SAAB 9-5 Aero reverse gear baulks

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Wed 21 Sep 2005 19:28
SAAB 9-5 Aero reverse gear baulks - SjB {P}
A friend of mine in Sweden has a 150,000 km (93k miles) SAAB 9-5 Aero wagon with manual gearbox that frequently fails to engage reverse gear. The gear lever 'feels' normal but selection simply baulks. The clutch appears to fully disengage (there is no creep in any gear when the clutch pedal is depressed) and trying to aid selection by choosing another gear first (a trick that works well with my wife's XU7 306 and worked well with my old Rover 420 GSi for example) has no beneficial effect.

Do these transmissions have any weak spots beyond the obvious next step of checking linkage adjustment or wear points, please? Note that reverse gear is used at the end of every trip because instead of a steering lock SAAB still persist with their 'beg to be different' gear selector lock. I have been advised that reverse gear on this gear box does not have synchromesh.

As an aside, the problem has been prevalent for months, slowly getting worse, but the desire to fix it has been brought to a head by events on Sunday; Trying to park in a Göteborg multi storey, both of us watched in horror as the lady driving a Mk I V70 in front of us stopped and selected reverse gear having overshot and chosen to defy a 'reserved for company XXX' bay. Despite matey blowing the SAAB's horn long and loud, all the time trying and failing to select reverse gear himself (we had no one behind), she kept on coming. From a car's length to nothing, BANG. With clutch depressed and brakes released to try and lessen damage, the walking speed impact still resulted in one cracked front bumper and a large hole courtesy of towbar... No apparent damage to the V70 - even to floor pan - beyond some of the SAAB's number plate reflective film on the tow ball cover.
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Wed 21 Sep 2005 22:52
SAAB 9-5 Aero reverse gear baulks - adverse camber
And the reason Volvo's have to be so sturdy ?









The owners.
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Thu 22 Sep 2005 14:23
SAAB 9-5 Aero reverse gear baulks - Jonathan {p}
Hi

My 95 did this, it was the synchromesh on the reverse gear, apparently the teeth wear down and it doesn't engage properly. The garage showed me the faulty part and it was apparent that the teeth had worn down quite considerably.

The garage that did the work were M & T Transmissions
120, Bradway Rd, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S17 4QW
Tel: 0114 236 3617, you could contact them to ask what the exact problem is likely to be.

it cost my supplier £400 to fix and is apparently a common fault.

Jonathan
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