Shifted transmission into reverse while driving on the highway

147,500 MILES • 4.0L • 6 CYL • 4WD • AUTOMATIC
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ALEXANDER CHEMANAEV
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
Long story short I was going around 55 miles an hour and I had shifted into reverse. What kind of damage might have done to my vehicle?
May 20, 2019 at 7:02 AM
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KASEKENNY
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 18,907 POSTS
Hi Alexander,

Obviously, this is not good for your transmission. I assume you heard a loud clicking or grinding noise? If you did, this is the gear teeth for your planetary gearing in your transmission. These grinding is not good. What happens is when you move the shifter to a specific gear P,R,N,D you are moving the manual valve which directs the pressurized fluid to a different portion of the transmission to apply a different gear set.

However, as long as this was not in reverse for too long the important question is do you have any issues currently? If the transmission still shifts and engages gears properly, then you are probably okay. Once something like this happens you don't want to go in and do "exploratory surgery" if there is no issue.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or let me know if you are experiencing an issue and we can go from there. Thanks
May 20, 2019 at 9:27 AM
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