znelson14

Hello everyone

I have an 85 V6 camaro (not sure about the transmission model). I pulled into work today, put my car in park and noticed that it started rolling forward so I braked and messed with the shifter for a second and was able to get the car to stop. At this point I noticed the shifter was moving with no resistance and not going into gear.

I looked under the car on the driver's side around the transmission and saw where a cable/arm had come loose. The cable/arm had a green rubber-like circular tip that went over a metal stud on the actual shifting mechanism of the trans. I put it back on and drove around for a minute and it slipped back off when parking again. So I got back under and turned the cable and put it on the other way (by twisting the cable to the opposite facing). It seemed to "pop" into place this time. I drove it around and shifted between gears and everything seems ok.

I was reading somewhere about replacing a cotter pin when replacing a trans linkage cable so my question is......Does the cable/arm that I am describing sound like the linkage cable and do I need a cotter pin to keep it in place. Like I said before, it seemed to pop into place unlike the first time I put it on. I just don't want it to come off driving down the interstate on the way home. Any of your help would be greatly appreciated!!!

camaronewbie

Sounds like it's time for a new shifter cable. Do yourself a HUGE favor, don't waste time/money on anything else but a dealer part here. I tried several from different places, and they are all junk EXCEPT the genuine GM dealer part. Costs more of course, but in this case you truly get what you pay for. For me, no other brand lasted longer than a week.

znelson14

Do you think I need a new one though? I mean I can put it back into place and it works just fine. I was just wondering if there is something that is supposed to hold it in place since it slid back off the first time.

If it's of any importance, I do shift a lot between neutral and drive because my car likes to shut off when coming to a stop in drive. I was thinking maybe it had just worked its way loose...or it needs a cotter pin to hold it in place that may have broken off?>??

astrosurfer

I have/had that problem. If it's what I think you mean.
Are you talking about the bracket at the transmission?
I found that the ring, which you snap the selector cable into, had opened slightly and would no longer hold the cable in place. I tightened the ring back up but it just happened again. I have not resolved this yet but I did temporarily tie some wire around it and around the bracket to secure it. Not sure how easy it will be to just get a new bracket so I was just going to fab something to secure the ring from opening up again. I'll be addressing this soon.