Today something really wierd starting happening with my shifter. I would start up the car, and as i applied my foot on the brake and started to move the shifter back into either OD or R, the shifter would slide to the R (without evening shifting into any gear; still being in park). And then when i would actually go to move it into OD or R, i would have to pull it back much further than i should before it would go into the right gear. For example, to get into R, i have to pull it back until D before it actually clicks into reverse. For OD, i have to bring it all the back between 1 and 2. Now granted it runs fine, but this is really confusing and kinda worries me; don't really know what gear im in until i actually let my foot off the brake and give it some gas. It just started today, car has 30k miles, all stock.

 

By any chance, have you played around under your car around the tranny fluid pan?

 

Broken shifter cable.

 

Yepp, the shifter cable. Easy fix though. Happened twice on the 86 Z i had.

 

I have seen the bolts on the trany pan just come loose.. Quick fix...

 

If it's shifter cable, don't waste time at Autozone or Advance - get one from the dealer! They are at least twice as much, but they don't come apart again in a month like non-GM jobs - they are well worth the extra!

 

Yea that's what my dad said..that its probably a loose cable or something. Do you guys think it's loose or broken? Like i said, I could still get the car into each gear, i just had to pull it back really far. Can this be solved by tightening the cable, or does it need to be replaced? Can I still drive the car or could something bad happen if i go to drive it?

 

It could just be loose.

 

My dad took off the console cover to take a look at the cable and he doesn't seem to think its the cable. He disconnected the cable and started moving the thing through the gears and the play was still there...like still felt pretty sloppy so he didnt think it was the cable. Could I need a new shifter? or a piece of the shifter? We have the service manual for the car but it doesnt contain anything about diagnosing this type of problem.

 

it's the cable......it came loose at the tranny. you won't see it through the console. the shifter will feel loose with the cable disconnected from it because most of the resistance comes from the tranny.

 

so we can assume that it's loose and not broken??

How do I go about tightening it? Do i do it from under the car?

 

bump!

 

Im not 100%, but for what you are looking for, you have to get under the car on the drivers side and look for the thing thats attached right next to the tranny pan.

 

Jack it up pop your self under the car and look next to the tranny pan, the shifter cable runs from the top down to the tranny pan and connects to this black bracket. Right their the tube the cable is in is probally cracked or broken. Mine is broken at the very end of the tube and it wont shift into park easily, i would change it just to be safe. currently i just leave my car in nuetral and pull the e brake (gotta wait untill next check for that cable).Jeremy

 

my dad got under the car today and found out that the bracket that holds the cable was falling off. One bolt was gone, and the other bolt was hanging on by a thread. I could only imagine what would have happened if that bracket would have fell off while i was driving or not at home or something. He took one of the other bolts that hold the trans pan on and used it on the bracket too. Just had to order a trans pan bracket to replace that one, and its $6/bolt!!!!