My Fiesta Titanium 1.6 purchased in Nov 09 has an intermittent problem of selecting or engaging reverse gear (since the day I purchased it). It fails to engage and the gears grate every few attempts. All other gears are ok.

I have sent it in to the dealer and they have agreed there is a problem and they replaced the clutch after only 900 miles.

A week later and the problem is still there. Reading up on the Web I have come across several posts of other people having the same problem. Apparently the Fiesta does not have a synchro for reverse and this is a design issue according to some posts? Some sufferers have resigned themselves to living with the issue.

The regular grating of gears when trying to reverse can’t be doing any good ? Do I need a new gearbox? Is this a problem with all mk7 Fiestas (I doubt it or more people would be complaining) or is it just a few bad gearboxes?

This has been posted on here countless times before....... (did you do a search?)

You have answered your own question, its the lack of syncromesh on the reverse gear. This is not a problem, it's the way the box (and most other boxes) are designed.

1. If you are going into reverse from starting the ignition, hold the clutch down while you start the car, if it does not engage then lift the clutch slightly then press back down and attempt again

2. If you are going into reverse from a forward gear then make sure that the car comes to a full stop before selecting reverse, then hold the clutch down for a second or two before moving the gear stick into reverse.

This should stop the 'problem' from happening about 90% of the time

oh btw...

Welcome to the Forum :)

My mk7 does this as did my mk6 but I don't really see it as a biggie to be honest. My instructor told me whilst I was learning (also in a mk6) that if you hold the clutch down for 5 seconds before you attempt to select reverse then the problem won't occur. It seems to work for me, give it a go! :)

Thanks for the welcome and the advice guys.

Don't get me wrong here but no matter how big a Ford fan I may be (I have driven Mondeos for the past 8 years with no gear problems) - I can't help feeling a little depressed and cheated after spending the best part of £15k on a car that regularly doesn't go into reverse properly!? :(

Why the dealer changed a perfectly good new clutch I do not know.

Does the grinding do any damage because I don't want to be forking out for a new gearbox in a few years time? It sounds horrendous - you should see the looks of horror from bystanders who think you don't know how to drive (and I've been driving 21 years in dozens of other cars without experiencing this problem!). It's particulary bad if you have the sound system on as you can then hardly hear it inside, it feels in reverse and is moving slowly but you soon know its grinding from the startled looks from people wincing nearby!

I'll try the 5 second workaround to see if this works but this is a major downer on what is otherwise an excellent car.

Hello

I have had 4 fiestas so far all different ages (1989-2000-2005-2007)

They have all shown trouble with reverse but it always works the second attempt.

Jamie

Mine also does this on a regular basis. As I have Keyless Go I start the car with the clutch down. I can't then seem to put it straight into reverse without faffing around for a few seconds in neutral and bringing the clutch up before trying reverse again. Annoying but just one of those things.

I don't know if this is universally true, but I'm led to believe that reverse and 1st are the same gear - a second cog drops for reverse to turn it backwards. I find that if I have trouble getting into reverse (of which I had more on my '56' mk6.5 than my current mk7) that putting it into 1st and then trying reverse again sorts it. I think it realigns the cogs or something, as sometimes I really couldn't get them to mesh at all but was easy after this.

Also as you don't need your clutch if the engine is off, I select the gear before starting the engine and hold the clutch in...well I have to as I, like JonMad have the keyless option, but I even do this on the vans I drive at work.

Hello

I have had 4 fiestas so far all different ages (1989-2000-2005-2007)

They have all shown trouble with reverse but it always works the second attempt.

Jamie

... mmm that's weird... i never had reverse gear problems with my other ford cars (mondeo, cougar, focus)... has the fiesta been designed differently for some reason?