The other morning started just like every other morning: out to my driveway, jumped into my 2007 MCS, fired it up, put the stick in reverse (felt slightly different, but not different enough to worry), and the car moved...

...forward!

After playing with the shifter **** for about 5 minutes I had to accept the fact that the reverse was nowhere to be found, and all the other gears felt very different and dislocated by this time. I walked inside to call a tow truck and started making myself ready to fork over a couple thousand dollars to the dealer (out of warranty).

Then it struck me that I should probably look at this forum. This turned out to be a great idea and a lifesaver. I'd like to say a great thank you to everybody who post their findings here.

There are a few similar stories, like:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-2007-mcs.html
or
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ing-apart.html

I started poking around under the hood just below the radiator reservoir, where the shift linkage attaches to the gearbox. As opposed to the other stories, there was no loose bolt and the cables seemed OK. However soon I discovered a broken retaining ring laying (in 2 pieces) on top of the gearbox, and that this was that made the whole entire mechanism fall apart.

Out to the local car parts store, promptly fetched two new retaining rings, one for spare... Put everything back in place, pushed on the retaining ring and I ended up being only 2 hours late to work... and quite happy for the day...

Just wanted to post a little note here, in case anybody ever runs into the same or similar problem.

 

I too suddenly lost Reverse and I think I only had 2,4 and 6 on my '07 MCS. The shifter plate is under, and a little behind, the coolant reservoir. The shifter plate rotates to three gears. A sliding lifter mechanism raises the plate to shift into another three gears and reverse. The lifter operates when the shifter is moved side-to side. It pivots on a horizontal pin that inserts into a bushing. The pin points towards the engine and has a retaining clip on the end nearest the engine.

The sliding lifter mechanism came loose because the pin it hinges on had the retaining clip come off, allowing it slide off completely. No lift = no R,1,3, or 5. The pin is about 8 mm in diameter and there is a white plastic bushing that also came off - make sure to find that and reinsert it before putting the clip on. I lucked out and it was sitting on top of the gearbox. Could have easily lost it.

Push back on the lifter pin mechanism to get it to slide back onto the shifter plate, then push it back in so the pin sticks out the other side. Re-insert the bushing, then use an E-Clip retaining clip that fits over the 8mm pin. There is a slot for it to slide into at the end of the pin. Cost me $4 for a box of assorted E-Clips.

 

Thanks for this info and the links. Your first/second links seem to describe my problem exactly. I will now be able to at least intelligently troubleshoot the issue and hopefully it just came loose or can be fixed with a couple of parts. Do you have any pics of the fix?