Howdy, I have a 1985 Regal with a Chevy 454. The transmission won’t go into park or reverse. I can see the levers turning a mechanism on the side of it. It will go into drive, but if I keep doing that I’ll run into my shed. I recently aquired this and know little of its history. Thanks!

hey snuffy, on a transmission theres a pawl, little bracket with teeth on it. It probably came out of adjustment. try raising rear wheels, blocking and jackstands of course, either top or bottom notch is park...

and i'd change the trans fluid, especially if you first got it. I was thinking reverse bands, but it doesn't go into park so it sounds like a linkage issue.

Chris

Thank you Christopher for sharing your knowledge. It is nice to hear a new member offer advice during the first few posts.

We dropped the tranny pan today. Changed the filter and checked the pawl. It looked good. We also checked and figured out that it does go into park. Sooooo....broken reverse band?

My old Winne would not go into reverse, the clutch plates had melted to drive plates (not all just one or two) only went forward, I can't remember if it had neutral, it did have park. Transmission rebuild!!! Those were the old days only cost about $500 then, 2010 or so..

Well..we changed the transmission and it still won't go into reverse. There is a Gear Vendor Overdrive unit on this Barth. The mechanic (and a fella at Gear Vender) thinks this is the problem. Should I replace the GV unit with a rebuilt? Or remove it altogether?

If you remove it, looks like a new drive shaft will be required, do you tow a lot, I wonder how much your mileage will be affected. If you take the GV off I assume you can check to see if the transmission goes into reverse before you have to buy the replacement GV.