Broken shifter cable?

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evsnova74

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I was parked on a slight hill and went to shift into drive and as I continued to pull down (probably shouldn't have kept pulling but what else could I have done to get off that incline?) it just shifted into reverse then I was at the end of the travel of the column shifter. I had to set the parking brake (luckily I had just done all new rear brakes) and crawl under it to manually shift it into drive, and just take it back to the shop to get my car.



Haven't been over there to diagnose the problem, can you guys give me some direction as to what I'll be looking for? I'm guessing this will be at the column rather than the trans? Thanks
 

454cid

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Mine recently broke, but probably differently than yours. The outer sheath wore through, so I couldn't get into park and everything else seemed to be fine. Mine's just zip-tied for now :)

You've already verified the transmission is shifting okay, I guess get under the dash and see what's moving or not, up there.

I'm guessing your center cable broke in the cable assembly. It runs under your carpet. I wonder if a new one can be pulled though without removing your interior..... I pulled my carpet years ago, so it's not in my way.
 

someotherguy

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The 95-up column's shifter mechanism is a bit weak, as most have found out when their brake-to-shift-interlock solenoid starts giving them trouble, and they reef on the shifter to get it out of park and the whole damn thing breaks.

Shift cable could be broken up top as 454 mentioned. It is possible to pull a new one without major interior disassembly, though at minimum you'll need to pull the driver door sill, fold the carpet up out of the way. It may help to remove the driver seat but probably not necessary; it's been years since I messed with one of those cables. Goes through a grommet in the floor pan.

Richard
 

evsnova74

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What I don't get is after I've shifted it into drive down at the trans, the shifter can "push" the trans linkage back into park. If the cable is broken, how can it do anything? And if the mount for the cable is broken, I would have thought that it would pull ok, but not be able to push. I'm sure it will all make a lot more sense when I get into it, which will probably be this weekend.

Also the brake to shift thing seems to function iirc, not sure if that matters I'm just trying to give as much info as I can remember. Thanks a ton guys
 

454cid

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What I don't get is after I've shifted it into drive down at the trans, the shifter can "push" the trans linkage back into park. If the cable is broken, how can it do anything?

It's a solid but flexible shaft inside a sleeve. It can't pull anymore, but since it's captured in the sleeve it can still push.
 

evsnova74

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It's a solid but flexible shaft inside a sleeve. It can't pull anymore, but since it's captured in the sleeve it can still push.
But if it were completely severed then it wouldn't even be able to pull it into reverse. That's what made me think that the mount for the conduit was broken. But again, I'm sure it will all make sense once I dig into it. It's just confusing trying to imagine what's going on without having my hands on it yet. I'll be an expert in shifter cables by the end of this lol
 

evsnova74

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I finally got a chance to dive into this problem today. It is of course a broken cable, but it's not fully broken. I just disconnected it from the trans and pulled on it and it came out about a couple inches then kinda sprang back. So new shifter cable, looks pretty easy to do.
 

evsnova74

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That explains it. Water is getting into the cab and under the mat and it disintegrated the conduit for the cable.
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I went ahead and removed the seat, took out the mat and now I'll be able to see where it's coming in next time it rains. Thanks all
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454cid

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That's worse than mine was/is, I think.

Mine just sort of blew out the side, but I didn't get a picture of that, just my zip-tie fix!

 

AuroraGirl

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That explains it. Water is getting into the cab and under the mat and it disintegrated the conduit for the cable.
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I went ahead and removed the seat, took out the mat and now I'll be able to see where it's coming in next time it rains. Thanks all
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you already ffigured it out. but I was going to say the issue is the outer sleeve breaks and then the whole thing collapses one way. glad you got it
 
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