When I Shift into Reverse Nothing Happens

If you are having your mechanic look over your car today, here are a couple of areas to check. First, do have the transmission fluid level checked as it could be down a quart of a little less. This could easily cause the problem you describe, though it is not likely the real caused.

Put your money on one of the controller module solenoids being intermittent. Aside from being one of the most frustrating types of problems anywhere in your Saturn, it is especially irksome in the transmission where something like this can easily mimic a different, more serious problem.

The reason it is likely in this spot, this time, is that your Saturn sits spinning its transmission gears and not moving sometimes in reverse and then when you put it into drive you move out nicely. In a nutshell, that is an intermittent problem. The car does it and then it doesn’t and you never know when which will occur.

The reason it is likely in the solenoid is that is exactly how an electronic failure occurs. It is working one minute and then not working the next. If it is intermittent then it is working, not working and working again. As you can see, it’s pretty frustrating. The fix is easy and relatively inexpensive — about $200 with labor. It is just replacing the solenoid (there are two, one for first and third and the other four second and reverse; overdrive is a direct lockup linkage) involved. The lucky thing is that they are mounted externally so your mechanic just has to remove the solenoid and replace it.

One other possibility to look at is a problem with the torque converter. It might be failing and not sending automatic transmission fluid with sufficient force to get reverse to engage.