My shift cable broke last night, so I bought a new one today. When I started to replace it, I noticed that while the cable sheath had broken, that wasn't my only problem. The shift arm has about 3/8"-1/2" endplay, and only catches the detents part of the time. The rest of the time it just feels disconnected.
Now, before I take the pan off and make a mess, can anyone give me a specific idea of what to look for? Is something broken internally, or just loose? The nut holding the arm on is tight, as was the cable nut.
Never seen this before, I'm confused.
Thanks in advance.:hail:

 

Never mind, I figured it out. Curiosity got the best of me.
So I took the pan off, and the nut on the inside of the case that holds what I will call the detent plate had backed off, allowing the arm to move into just any position. I tightened it, and all seems well, but now can anyone tell me why this happened, and how I might prevent it from happening again?
Thanks

 

hey brian..... i'm wondering how loctite would work to hold that in place?

 

Yeah, I'm thinking it can't hurt anything. I don't want this happening again. I drive this car too far from home to have to fix things like this very often.