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Hard to shift to reverse when first started in the morning

16K views 36 replies 17 participants last post by  madtowner 
#1 ·
Is anybody else experiencing this? Whenever I start the car in the morning, shifting to reverse is a little harder than after the car has been running for a while. It’s stiff, I press the button on the shifter and pulling it back is a little hard, it works fine, and after I’ve been driving, shifting to reverse becomes easy. It almost makes me feel like there could be something wrong with the transmission.
 
#2 ·
Are you parked on an incline, even just enough to roll your car slightly? Try the thing suggested in some threads here and other car forums, where you park it by doing:
- Foot on foot brake
- From last shifter setting (Drive or Reverse), move shifter into Neutral
- Pull up the parking brake flipper switch
- Let off the foot brake and let the car settle (rolls a little downhill, settling into the hand brake)
- THEN push the shifter into Park and turn off the engine

My garage is slanted enough to let my car roll slightly, so I do this all the time. Morning shifts are really easy and smooth. I don't know the exact whazzits, but it seems to be a way to not leave the car settled with tension in the transmission mechanics.

F.S.
 
#3 ·
That did the trick! My driveway is slanted, I feel like such a noob lol. When I had a manual transmission I would always use the emergency break when parking, but once I switched to automatic transmissions I pretty much stopped using it completely. I guess the E brake exists for a reason!

Thanks man.
 
#4 ·
I've gotten into the habit of setting the parking brake before shifting into Park and that has prevented the hard shifting out of Park for me on the next drive. However, we don't have many steep inclines here in the flatlands of mid MI so this may not be as effective as the going to Neutral first procedure on a real hill.
 
#5 ·
Was just explaining this to my daughter. Parking on an incline without first engaging the parking brake let's the vehicle roll slightly. Thus putting a bind in the driveline. Upon next shift, the system needs to pop out of that bind.

The question is; does it cause premature wear on the CVT...
 
#6 ·
Was just explaining this to my daughter. Parking on an incline without first engaging the parking brake let's the vehicle roll slightly. Thus putting a bind in the driveline. Upon next shift, the system needs to pop out of that bind.

The question is; does it cause premature wear on the CVT...
It potentially damages the parking pawl. Here's all the info (and more) that anyone ever wanted to know about this subject.

 
#7 ·
Could be a bad transmission too. Mine has done that for a long time and now it's going bad. Also been doing the chirp when shifting into drive. I don't care who says that's normal, its crap. Neither of my CVT Forester's did that, 2014 and 2017. Now my transmission is squealing, slipping, and performing absolutely terribly. If your transmission makes noise going into gear, is hard to shift into reverse, or makes any form of metallic clanking sound, it's a piece of junk and it's going to prematurely fail. It's just a matter of time, might be 20,900+ miles like mine, >10K miles like others, or 50K or < miles since most have not gotten to that mileage yet. Time will tell how those who have not had problems yet fair out.
 
#8 ·
No, torque lock from forgetting to set the parking brake isn't a bad transmission. Your former CVTs were different models and your former Subarus were half ton lighter.
 
#16 ·
Do you set the parking brake before putting in park or at least before taking your foot off the brake pedal?
Other than having torque applied to the parking pawl by movement after parking, it should not be difficult to take it out of park.
 
#20 ·
On a related subject, always use the parking brake (aka EMERGENCY BRAKE). It couldn't be any easier in the Ascent since it's a switch. Not sure about the mechanics in the Ascent but if it's cable actuated, use it or lose it. Regular use keeps it working properly.

Anyone who's ever lost hydraulics better know that the E-brake is working and how to use it.
 
#25 ·
Yeah, my partner doesn't always use it either. It's a heavy car and if you don't engage the parking brake, it's a lot of weight to put on the parking pawl, especially if you're on any kind of a hill.

Brake-->Park-->Parking Brake. Only takes 2 seconds.
 
#23 ·
I do not go through as many steps as others on this thread. I just keep my foot on the brake until I have set the e-brake. I don't account for the car being in park, neutral or drive before I do any of it. I have been in all three positions before setting the e-brake but 90% of the time I am in park before I pull the switch with my foot on the brake, and my results are always the same. I have parked my Outback and Ascent this way since I have had it them, for the first two years of my Outback's life I was parking it on a sloped driveway with no issues at all with this method.
 
#34 ·
I have to say that this is the most annoying thing about our Ascent (2023, Limited), which we experience daily, because the car is always parked on an incline on the driveway or the road. Changing gears is as smooth as butter when the surface is even.

I always use the parking break when I park. I tried a trick of engaging the parking break before I shift to park, which sometimes helps, but not always.
 
#36 ·
I'm with some of the others here. Here's what I do when I park:

1. Come to stop
2. Shift to neutral
3. Apply the parking brake
4. Release brake pedal and allow the car to "rest" on the parking brake
5. Shift to park

I've never had a rough shift when this process is done. Seems like a lot, but it really isn't.
 
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