Hey guys, a friend of mine just pulled out his MKIII that we did a 2jzGTE swap a long itme ago. The car has been sitting for a year, we got her fired up, but doesn't have reverse. All forward gears are there, and works fine.

It's strange when you go to reverse, it feels like it doesn't exist. Like it's not there at all, no grinding or strange noises, just nothing is there. Any one got an idea?

 

ihiryu,

Did your friend have the MKIII R154 rebuilt or upgraded prior to installing it in the SC?

It is extremely likely that the retaining bolt on the 5th-Reverse shift fork has come loose. This is an *extremely* rare thing to happen but it also happened to me when I had my MKIII R154 rebuilt and converted for my SC. The symptom you describe is exactly what happened to me after within miles of leaving left the shop. Thankfully, they took the car back in and corrected the issue free of charge (I was already $1600 lighter). It's more or less an issue due to the age of the transmission and screws inside holding the shift forks in place. Again, very, very uncommon but it can happen.

Unfortunately, here is what needs to happen to fix it: the transmission has to be removed and taken to a transmission shop, drained and opened up. The reverse fork screw will need Red Loctite applied before it is torqued back to spec. Then everything can be buttoned up and reinstalled in the car. The Toyota MKIII Supra FSM does not require Red Loctite be applied during that step but with the age of any R154 these days it should be done anyway to prevent this very issue.

I could be mistaken but your symptom sounds exactly like what happened to me. Another thing is that with the bolt loose like that inside the transmission, you probably shouldn't drive it much at all before getting the issue rectified. You can imagine what a loose screw coming free and banging around inside the transmission might do. Sorry to suggest that. He needs to get this taken care of before the car is used again.

 

Hey Kahn,

His car is MKIII with a 2jz swap, not a SC chassis. No the transmission came from a wrecking yard since his started life as a NA.

I guess we'll pull the transmission out and see what's going on. Thanks for the reply!

 

Ah, my mistaken assumption then!

Well, the same still applies. Did he have his R154 rebuilt prior to swapping it in?

 

Nope that's the weird thing, he bought it from a junk yard. Car was good before he left it in his dad's barn to move up to Dallas.

 

did you try letting the car roll a little forward or back and trying again. probably tried it but hey just throwing it out there.