HELP.. Need help 96 Cavalier Auto Can drive forward but no reverse

[andrew_baggins]

Hi, my brother's car, a 96 Cavalier will not engage in reverse.. It happened suddenly, and now it seems like the rear end is locked up. It can drive forward no problem, idles in neutral no problem, but will not drive in reverse, and if in neutral you cannot push it back either.

He needs the car to get to and from work , so the issue is quite urgent.

Any ideas of what the problem might be.

[shakewell]

auto or manual trans?

Try jacking up the car so that all 4 wheels are off the ground and see which wheels are locked up in neutral. If it's the rear locking up, then check the brakes (there is no rear end on a cavalier).

[andrew_baggins]

Thanks for the reply.. I dont think its brakes, the car can drive forward as much as you want.. until you run out of space of course.. That is what happened to us. we drove it forward until the garage stopped us :-)

Will put it up on jacks and see if it makes a difference.

[dkbluewulf]

This sounds the same as my 1999 Pontiac Sunfire 2.2L, 3 speed automatic, 70,500 miles.. It wouldn't go backwards downhill down my driveway, though it had been working fine up to that time. It wouldn’t roll backwards and felt like it was up against a brick wall.
I tried going forward, and it did, but in reverse it wouldn't budge. I finally tried giving it more and more gas, then there was a VERY large crash/clank/jolt, and it broke loose. I cautiously tried driving it a few blocks, forward and backward. Something seemed to sound wrong, but it worked. I had a transmission shop look at it, but they said that "it seemed OK, and that the fluid looked good."
I inspected the rear brakes, which had been replaced a few months before. (new drums, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware) They were working fine, not too tight, parking cables free, etc.
I noticed after I took it home, that the transmission makes a rumbling grinding growling sound in PARK, more so when cold, but that goes away in all the other gear selector positions.