Hello,
I have a manual transmission, 2001, 9-3. Every once in a while, about 40% of the time, when I put the gear selector in R, a terrible grinding sound can be heard.
I've noticed that when it is reluctant to go into R, I can't even get the gear selector into 5th at all. Also, putting it through 1-4 for a while seems to make the grinding go away.
What is causing this grinding and how should I fix it?
Thanks

my car does the same thing.. i also shift around if it resists when going into reverse and it works. from what i've read, thats the cheapest route..

Is this because the reverse gear is not synchronised?

A mechanic I will refer to as "SaabNazi" told me to always select a forward gear to align the syncros. ALWAYS.


Now your concern sounds like whats going on with my new 9-3 gearbox. Only 54k miles on the thing. I have been looking into this:
http://www.genuinesaab.com/psi/files/93-95-trans-update.htm

What does aligning the synchros entail? Leaving it in a foward gear briefly before sticking it in reverse?

Yeah I have the same problem some times, I just shift through the cycle 1-5, then I put in reverse and that seems to work for me. I had the same trouble with my grand-am, which was manual trans. and I did the same thing when it was being a pain.

This is my remedy as well... select 1st gear, then select reverse. It does SVCK out loud when I forget to do this and get the awful crunch.