reverse locked up

my buddys 88 si civic has always been a problem free car until today..when all the sudden he couldnt get the car into reverse..and when he put a tad bit of muscle into it u would feel a grinding..like something was spinning and grinding lol and then suddenly he tried reverse again and i heard this loud thump..the car instantly stalled and now it seems as if reverse is totally locked out..could this really be the prob or could there be something less serious going on.. can reverse bee fixed easily or should he just go out and buy a new tranny or what? no problems 1-5..smooth shifts. thanks guys n gals

It happens to mine sometimes, or what seems to be the same thing. When it happens I just let my car roll back a little bit and it goes into gear fine. You might want to try that. If it's no the problkem, then you should get a service manual and check on a rebuild.

Looks like a tranny rebuild job:frown:

sometimes mine doesn't want to go into rev. when its cold, just slip the clutch a little bit and it drops right in.

Yeah, try pumping the clutch. I always stick it in another gear before trying reverse (mostly 1 and 3).

well we tried all thy above cept the rebuild..it never really had a prob getting into reverse. like i said its locked now after trying to get it into reverse with a lil might..and slipping the clutch there was a loud thump and it stalled..now it doesnt feel like it will ever go into gear lol oh well..rebuild seems time consuming and prolly cost as much as the one on ebay right now offered by that jdm direct place in patterson new jersey..prolly best just getting a new 1.. since they claim it has 30-40k on it *edit* how much does a rebuild kit normally run for and how long should it take a knowleagble person to do it?

a friend of mine had some kinda old pontiac for years.... and reverse never worked. any time we needed to go backwards, we'd have to get out and push. hilarious.

I think getting the used one would be cheaper unless you just love to mess with your car. I did rebuid myself, and I was taking my time with it, so I cannot say for sure how long it's going to take. Probably shop would be able to comlete this in a day or two, subject to parts availability. Swapping the tranny will take less time, of course, providing the new one fits.