Leo came back from the body shop today. I backed into my spot and then put the park brake on, left the car running and in neutral and hopped out to check my parking. (I've hit somebody, and been hit, in the same parking lot...so I'm very particular about my parking, and double check everything).
When I got back in the shift lever was all screwed up. It moves forward and backward like it should, but it can move up and down too. I was still able to put the car in reverse and finish backing into my stall, but I'm wondering what broke.
I know a linkage breaks sometimes, but I thought that prevented you from getting into 1st and such.
I seem to be able to get into the gears just fine (Well, based on 6 seconds of testing in my parking garage), it's just that the gear lever wants to go up through the sunroof.
So what broke, how many of my future children will I have to sell to get it fixed, and (I'm away at school, but only about 50 miles form home) can I ignore it for a few weeks (4) until I'm back home near my regular mechanic?
There is a rubber linkage, it may have just slid out of place. You can check by visual inspection, and having someone wiggle it around and seeing if the shaft corresponds with the movement on both sides.
Basically the shifter pivots and the feedback the transmission recieves is an "in out" and a rotate one way or the other. If the linkage is fudged up, this could cause the in's not to go all the way in, and the rotation not to be right.
Also, make sure your gear selector and gearbox are in alignment possibly before, but definitely after working on the linkage. You do this by inserting typically a screwdriver into the hole that's just south of 4th gear's location, and another in the top of the gearbox, after removing the plug.
I believe the car must be in 3rd but try doing a search or wait for someone's infinite knowledge to chime in.
If the rubber coupling breaks you either cannot select the 1/2 gears or have great difficulty in doing so.
If the clamping ring connecting the shifter to the transmission shift rod comes adrift then no shifting would be possible. The rubber coupling is assembled with this ring to allow adjustment of the alignment of the shifter rod with the transmission rod. Under one rubber bellows at the front of the rubber coupling is a pin and in front of the rear bellows is the clamping ring.
To align the coupler requires that the shifter be placed in reverse (for older cars, later cars apparently use fourth gear for this) and aligning the hole in the surround of the shift lever with the hole in the shifter housing, drop a 4 mm drill bit in to hold this alignment while you resecure the clamping ring. This assumes the gearbox can be put into reverse (or fourth as the case may be) BEFORE the coupler or clamping ring came completely adrift.
However, your issue seems to be with the shifter rod itself. The shift lever gaiter must come off and you will then be able to see the assembly that holds the lever in place. Something in that assembly has broken or come apart.
What you need to get at is the socket assembly that holds the pivot ball on the shift lever in place to allow the shift lever to move sideways and forward and back enabling you to move the shifter rod appropriately to select five gears and reverse. Your symptoms are not those of a failed or disconnected rubber coupler. All corrective work will likely be done inside the car.
Lift up the rubber (or "leather") gaiter. and you will see the shift lever retaining assembly. The shift lever housing is bolted to the floor of the car with four bolts you won't see until you dismantle the console somewhat. It is possible that one or more of the securing bolts has come adrfit, but not likely. More likely is the retaining circlip that holds the shift lever assembly together has failed. This circlip retains the upper bearing half that holds the pivot ball on the shift lever into the two part "socket" it pivots in.
Another remote possibility is that the retaining dowel that connects the spring loaded reverse lock out ring to the shift lever itself has come out. However, as this seems to hold the knob and lock out ring onto the lever this is unlikely to be your problem. If the gaiter comes off completely with the knob and lock out ring then that is your problem.
Could you further elaborate on how to get down into the shifter assembly?
The leather boot does down into a plastic plate. I have tried to lift on on the leather boot, and it doesn't seem to want to come up without a struggle.
I have tried to pry on the plastic plate that the rubber boot goes into, and it doesn't really want to come loose either. I can pull the sides up, but it seems like it's attached under at the top and bottom, and I'm not sure I could remove the plate without breaking something.
mmmmk, found it. The spring that holds that round piece in place came loose. Then I lost it into the abyss of the shifter-section. So....I geuss I"ll order that part and replace it.
When I first got my car, my shifter did the same thing yours did. The entire plastic surround was broken allowing the shifter to wobble around and lift up and down. I went to the junk yard and got a newer style shifter with the leather boot and spring like yours. I got it in and found it to be very loose and sort of cheap. After a while it ended up breaking so I went back to the yard and got an older one which has the rubber accordion style boot and found that the older style was much more secure and, in my opinion, better. It is still in there today and works like a charm. It may sound like all you need to do is get the spring that wraps around and replace it. However, if you have broken it enough, you may need to replace the whole shifter assembly which requires a lot of removal of the interior.
hi.just be careful. i have an '89 manual and a '94 aero manual.the shifter towers are different.i'm not sure if they are compatible.the mounting bolts(4) positioning is probably ok, but?? love that car.cheers
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