I bought a new '07 Patriot, less then 5000 miles so far. I have had it in the shop three times because it will not go into reverse, almost every time, unless I put it into 4th and roll forward a bit then it will go into reverse sometimes. The shifter has been replaced but didn't make any difference. It is going back to the shop tomorrow.

Anyone else having this problem?

When I had my Pat, it did the same thing. 80% of the time it would grind and not be properly seated in reverse. I sold it and the issue was not addressed.

My best guess, as a mechanic, is that it was a bent or damaged shift fork that was keeping it from engaging the reverse gear. I am not sure if the patriot has a syncro for reverse or not, but in some of my older jeeps, there were no syncros and that made it sometimes hard to engage reverse. It would grind and pop out of gear.

I would make sure the shop checks the syncros and the shift fork on it.

-SF

same here, seems to be a common problem.

I just need to be foreceful with it .

To much force is bad for any transmission. Try letting out the clutch half way and then re-depress and then engage into the reverse gear again. This will help re-align the syncros by spining them and hopefully they will line up better.

I know that with my Patriot, after driving it for a month or so with this issue, I was able to "feel" when reverse was properly engaged and when it was not. But either way it was a pain in the butt and sure gives you a start first thing in the morning when you hear the gear grinding.

-SF

Yeah, mine is a bit tricky too. I caught me out at first when I was parked right in front of the garage door on a downhill slope and i thought in was in reverse but it wasnt. Just saved it in time!!, Now I know that if it doesnt want to go into reverse properly I just let the clutch out a tad and it goes in no worries. Keep us informed with what the dealer does. Cheers.

Yep, same problem here. It's definitely a common problem. Mine has seem to even pop out a couple of times. Now that I'm getting used to it, I find reverse better.

I bought a new '07 Patriot, less then 5000 miles so far. I have had it in the shop three times because it will not go into reverse, almost every time, unless I put it into 4th and roll forward a bit then it will go into reverse sometimes. The shifter has been replaced but didn't make any difference. It is going back to the shop tomorrow.

Anyone else having this problem?

but on my neon,
Reverse was always tricky,
either have to engage it 2-3 times,
or it would pop out,
thought it was problem,
After 200K miles still happens just got used to it,
just happens to be a tight gear.

it happened to me too with Patriot first gear and reverese gear. I have saturn 5-speed for 10years with 215k miles with same problem started at 100K miles!

The best way to avoid grinding is to make sure that u feel the clutch with double click when fully engaged in reverse. Also, make sure u take ur time to make it a habbit to push the shifter all the way to right FIRST and push it down while pushing right.

Other way to do is shift it first first a litte bit and then reverse.

I know shifting into reverse on my solstice can be troublesome. But there is a lockout on reverse to prevent accidentally shifting from 5th to reverse. It's even noted in my manual and suggests double clutching into reverse. That's what I do, and it works. I would expect the jeep to have a similar feature/solution.

I have noticed that reverse sometimes needs an extra push and it will sometimes pop out... i havent had any problem that a 2nd try couldnt fix with my patriot, but i had a 96 cherokee that grinded into reverse horribly. I would put the shifter into 5th and swing it down into reverse to line up the syncros and that worked fine for 3 years. Now my dad has it and likely just grinds it into reverse :)

Dealer opened a call with the Jeep hotline, they want to see if this gets worse before they actually do anything. Says there are floating retainers that get knocked out of alignment a bit when shifted aggressively, (maybe if it would go into reverse I wouldn't be SHIFTING AGGRESSIVELY because of the frustration!) they want me to drive it a while to see what happens, (over 4000 miles is already driving for a while!) does it get worse, does it go away? They say that if it is the floating retainers it is a normal condition! The dealer is trying to help but Chrysler says wait and see what happens.:confused:

I just hope I don't get stuck on a snowy mountain road and not able to turn around. Some roads don't make complete loops, they dead end! Kind of hard to turn around if you can't backup!

I"ll keep you all posted on what happens.

Are we all talking about manual transmission? If so, try double clutching, that is put it in neutral, let the clutch out, push it back in then put it in reverse.

I've driven manuals for most of my life and it is not uncommon to have to double clutch when you go into reverse.

Here is the remedy: lightly grasp the shift handle with thumb and fore finger, extend pinky, gently move shifter into reverse. This works every time! :icon_rolleyes: If you grasp the shift handle with your whole hand and move it like you mean it, apparently the floating retainers get out of alignment! :wow:

After all this is a Jeep, and everyone knows you have to be gentle with them.:confused:

Double-clutching seems to work. I haven't had to double-clutch since I drove a 48 Ford truck we used to haul horses.

I just let the clutch out a little while keeping light pressure on the shifter. It pops right in.

you have to remember that reverse is unsynchronized. If the gears don't line up just right it won't go in. Every manual I have ever driven has been like this. Passenger cars of all brands, trucks, tractors, etc.... all the same.

This looks OK, except not sure why you need to "extend pinky" ???

Here is the remedy: lightly grasp the shift handle with thumb and fore finger, extend pinky, gently move shifter into reverse. This works every time! :icon_rolleyes: If you grasp the shift handle with your whole hand and move it like you mean it, apparently the floating retainers get out of alignment! :wow:

After all this is a Jeep, and everyone knows you have to be gentle with them.:confused:

I've had 7 cars and 1 truck with manuals - they all did this, at least some of the time.

I prefer to think of it as a FEATURE, not as PROBLEM. Just practice looking cool while you hunt that bad boy down into R. Make it seem like you're driving some fancy hand built Italian car, baby! LOL

I have had the same issue also. I just go to reverse and keep pressure on the shifter as I just start letting the clutch out. I then push the clutch back in and it slips the rest of the way in. Not the fastest way to get in reverse, but it works.

As mentioned, reverse does not have a syncro. As a habit from all my other manual trans cars, I put the trans in second gear then reverse, always with the clutch in. Worksvery well for me, even in my MK.

Has anyone had this problem with an automatic transmission?
I drive a 2009 patriot, and this morning, I put it in reverse, wanting to back out of the driveway, and I almost hit my garage because it rolled forward about 7 feet.
It is possible that it rolled because my driveway is slightly uneven in some areas, but it doesn't seem likely to me.

I'm pretty worried, seeing as it's a fairly new vehicle. If anyone has any advice, or has a similar story, I would be really appriciate it if you shared. Thanks. : ]

Ok . . . so I'm not crazy. :pepper:

My 2010 4wd has a little over 800km. I have aa blog about it and I'm getting a little tired of complaining about the reverse thing. It was just this morning that I double clutched (never knew what that was until I read this thread) and it worked.

I never had this problem with my 99 Vitara. Reverse would be where it was supposed to be. 1st gear on the other hand was problematic unless I was stopped or going <5kph.

Here is the remedy: lightly grasp the shift handle with thumb and fore finger, extend pinky, gently move shifter into reverse. This works every time! :icon_rolleyes: If you grasp the shift handle with your whole hand and move it like you mean it, apparently the floating retainers get out of alignment! :wow:

After all this is a Jeep, and everyone knows you have to be gentle with them.:confused:

A real Jeep has the shift lever into the top of transmission or metal remote rods and levers. It's this new cable shift crap that must be causing this goofy problem with reverse. I've never had this happen on any other Jeeps.

I bought a new '07 Patriot, less then 5000 miles so far. I have had it in the shop three times because it will not go into reverse, almost every time, unless I put it into 4th and roll forward a bit then it will go into reverse sometimes. The shifter has been replaced but didn't make any difference. It is going back to the shop tomorrow.

Anyone else having this problem?

I have a 2009 Jeep Patriot stick with 17000 miles we bought new and its hard to put into reverse most of the time but it does seem to get better as I get more miles on it or I just get used to it. The dealer won't do anything about it, double clutch helps. Had I had backed it up on the test drive I would not have bought it.

The way I deal with this is to put light pressure on the shifter as I S L O W L Y let out the clutch. It pops in and I'm good to go. You know, you can always feel when it didn't go far enough. You just get "that feeling"...:) I never really thought of it until this thread came up that there was anything really wrong.