5 Spd Reverse gear issues

[Kassroth]

Hi, I recently had a 5spd swap done to my 97 240 (1 month ago) Since then it seems like I've been having more and more problems with getting the the transmission to shift into reverse.

I will have it at a dead stop with the clutch fully dissenaged, then try to shift into reverse but it just wants to grind. I try the other gears and no problems, all go in fine. Today I noticed that the hydraulic clutch reservoir was really low as my clutch pedal had way too much play in it.

I topped up the oil level reservoir and pumped the pedal a number of times and had a fair amount of air bubbles surface. Drove the car around for 5 mins then the pedal started to feel normal again. However I am still having issues with reverse, sometimes it goes in, then other times it just grinds when i try to move the shifter into place. Could this still be an issue of air in the system?

Thanks for any help/advice. I had a new clutch in it (ACT max street) when the swap was done.

[Jung918]

Something that might help out is to press the clutch and put it into first before reverse. Or if you can't find them, grind them.

[Kassroth]

Anyone else have some advice? I drove it a bit yesterday and didn't have issues with reverse gear. But the day before I couldn't even get into reverse gear. Hopefully topping off the fluid level fixed it.

[kouki_s14]

bleed the clutch pedal and get the air out
OR just make sure your car is at a FULL stop before trying to get into reverse.
My car likes to grind if I'm still moving forward and i try to get in reverse, maybe yours is the same

[NoBottleJustThrottle]

I basically never post here, I just read and learn...but I had a similar problem with one of my cars.
My car would go in and out of basically any gear just fine, but it just would not go into reverse. It started out as sometimes going in, sometimes not...then it just stopped all together. It wouldnt go in even when the car was turned off.
What it turned out to be was a shifter leaver inside the transmission. Basically that leaver got worn down from shifting into reverse without comming to a complete stop. Eventually it just got so worn down that the leaver inside the transmission that activates reverse just did not work anymore. It got worn down more and more without even using reverse. When the car was shifted into reverse without comming to a complete swap the leaver got knocked out of alignment thus causing it to get grinded and worn down while not even being activated. So when the car was even moving forward it was getting worn down even more due to the misalignment.
I took my tranny to a shop, got it fixed, and it works like a charm now.
Just my $0.02
Good luck

[drift into a curb]

Your slave cylinder was probably leaking if you were low on fluid... take a look at that... Then bleed the slave cylinder. After that, do what jung said.. try pressing in the clutch, put it into first gear and then reverse. I have to do this with my rx7 all the time or else it doesn't want to go in.