Saturn Repair: Shifting From Reverse 97 SL2, output shaft, saturn sl2

Question
On my 97 Saturn SL2 (Manual Transmission), I am having problems getting it into gear after backing up.  If I start out going forward, the car goes smoothly into 1st gear.  If I go in Reverse first, the shifter doesn't want to go into 1st or 2nd gear.  In neutral, I usually let out the clutch, push it back in then try 3rd.  Then shift into 1st or 2nd (which ever it will go into). Any Ideas?  Thank You.

Answer
Mike,
 There's no real fix for this.  This is how your transmission is designed:  Each of the pair gears (1/2  3/4  5/R) are controlled by their own shift fork.  When you put your vehicle into reverse, you apply a reverse idler gear (to change the direction of the output shaft) between a reverse drive gear and a reverse driven gear (the gear that sits on the outside of the 1/2 synchronizer sleeve).  This is why your vehicle doesn't want to go into 1st or 2nd right after a trip to reverse.  The idler gear has to completely disengage to get off of the 1/2 synchro sleve.  All that being said, just shift into 5th or 3rd real quick before you try for first.  That will probably solve most of the problem.  I don't think your problem will get any worse.  Hope this helps

Chris