No Reverse - S1 336-08

[My S1]

My second rencontre sexuelle with my dear S1 ended with a slap to the face and I was brought to tears. Twice the transaxle refused to engage reverse.  What am I getting into this time?

The previous owner rigged up a creative anti-slop (?) remedy with a jumbo O-ring and a zip tie.  Am I looking at an internal malady or could it simply be linkage related?  All other gears engage smoothly, other than the bad synchros on third.

[kapps]

Check the bottom portion of the gear lever. Mine got progressively worse shifting into reverse and finally refused to go. Turns out, the lower portion of the lever that engages with the shift rod was slowly bending.

[My S1]

Kapps,  are you referring to up front at the fulcrum?

[kapps]

Yes, the flat portion of 46F 001 bent on mine.

[jbcollier]

Disconnect the shift linkage from the transaxle.  Can you now select reverse?  If so, you have a linkage issue.  Any play can mean that the linkage isn't able to move far enough to engage reverse.

[My S1]

Well at least I can hope it is linkage only.  I'll walk through the system link by link and search for play or restrictions.  Any idea what the P.O. was trying to do with the O-ring and zip ties?  Compensating for worn bits perhaps?

[My S1]

Starting at the front and working my way to the transaxle cover.  Looking at the front two main linkage members with a mirror, I can't see a bend, however when I draw some sloppy lines in Paint, there appears to be a slight bend.  Couple of questions for you folks;

1.  Does this look like a significant enough bend to cause the problem?  Trying to postpone tearing the linkage apart...

2.   Does anyone sell beefed up direct replacement gear lever and longitudinal link units for the S1 336?

3.   Have any of you permanently fixed this problem by modifying your two main front members.

[kapps]

I think you’re good. This is how bent mine was when it stopped selecting reverse.

[My S1]

Holy smokes!  OK, I'll move on to the other links.  Thank you kapps for clearing that up.  If I remove those parts I'll straighten them to perfection just for good measure.

[kapps]

The flats may be worn so straightening will only get you so far. I believe RD now sells a new gear lever and spherical bearing mount. When this happened to me, he wasn’t selling the gear lever but fortunately, I have a mill and a lathe.

Good luck on your quest for reverse. I had bought some female rod ends years ago with the intention of replacing all the rotating joints in the mechanism on my S2 but never got around to it. If it ain’t broke…

[My S1]

Outstanding work.

[My S1]

JB, that was a terrific suggestion of yours; to start by disengaging the cross shaft lever from the longitudinal shaft.  A simple move that allowed me to quickly get a grasp on the situation.  It does go into reverse by hand with considerable strength from this old man's feeble hands.

I noticed that in reverse, the first longitudinal shaft is hard pressed against the wiring loom.  A problem that presumably all S1s and S2s must have.  I'll unwrap the tape for a few inches and flatten out the loom to see if it gives me some relief.

Next step is to replace avery dann joint (everyone is loose as a goose) that I can source and adjust the rods.

[314159td]

Bending the tab on the gear lever seems like it might be related to the service bulletin about cutting the reverse spring shorter. They also modify the lengths of the center pivot to give a bit more mechanical advantage.

[My S1]

Great stuff!  Thank you.  I'm going to try and shorten the transfer shaft before busting open the rear transaxle cover.

Where in the world did you find the Service Bulletin?  Looks like you have a whole binder of them?  That is a must have for the library.

It took allot of head scratching but I think I may have figured out how the damn contraption works.

[BDA]

Service Bulletins, (searchable) Workshop and Parts Manuals, and SO MUCH MORE is found here: http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/

EVERY Europa owner should have that page bookmarked and if you turn a wrench on your car, it's even more valuable!!!