for some reason my 1998 honda prelude manual transmission will not go into reverse. goes into all the other gears fine but it feels like there is something blocking it.

 

try this:

hold clutch in, shift into first and second several times (without letting off clutch), then switch into reverse from first

 

I just recently had this issue...Do what he says it works....

 

i tried that several times because this has happened once before and that worked, but this time it wont go in at all.

 

ok, try this:

follow steps from above, then when trying to put it into reverse, supply a little pressure to get it into gear while slowly letting off the clutch

 

tried that too. it will go in fine if i do it manually under the hood so im thinkin there is a problem with the shifter cable. if that is the problem what would i have to do to fix it. thank you for the help

 

Sounds like your shift fork might be bent. Honda had a TSB (01-070) for 5th gear grind that resulted from a bent shift fork. It's the same shift fork for reverse so it might be worth a little google searching.

 

so if that is the problem can i bring it to a honda dealer and have them fix it for free? thanks for the help.

 

Dealership fix something for free?!?! only if there's a recall.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kronn 98SH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok, try this:

follow steps from above, then when trying to put it into reverse, supply a little pressure to get it into gear while slowly letting off the clutch</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's what I did. But instead of "a little pressure", I had to literally pull it back with force and released the clutch until it started grinding. Did that a few times and it finally broke loose and I was able to get back in reverse no problem. Felt like the gear itself was stuck, the grinding helped get it unstuck.

Oh, and make sure you have ample room behind you when trying this.

 

its working alright now after forcing it into reverse like you guys said but this is the second time this has happened so im going to pull the tranny out and see what the problem is...thanks for all the help guys.

 

When was the last time you flushed the transmission?

 

I just had this problem with my '00 about 3 months ago. it took 3 different times of the honda shop "fixing" it to finally figure out it was my shifting cables had frayed. so you'll just have to buck up pay the money.