Stupid Saturn Trick

I back up a little before shifting into 1st to get around an SUV parked
on the street ahead of me. Suddenly I have a very loose shifter and
that sucker is in REVERSE and it aint coming OUT!
The only way to disengage is clutch. No shifter progress. Takes a
couple of seconds and I know where to look.
Turned off the engine. Fortunately - I had a phillips head onboard.
Unscrewed the center panel rear screws. Pop the front panels - unscrew
those two. Work the sumbitch loose and get it out of the way. Take a
look - aha - the shifter mounting point isnt connected to f-b cable.
L-R cable is intact and not disconnected - F-B cable isnt connected...
there seems to be some kind of retainer missing? I can place the
shifter's spindle into the cable's mount, but it eventually slips off.
Especially from 2nd to 3rd. It didnt USED to slip off. This is a
total bitch to drive because it disconnects and the only thing you can
do is fumble around down there with one hand and fit those parts back
together again (while youre stuck in 2nd or 1st) hopefully just
coasting downhill with your foot on the clutch...

Anyone know how this shifter link is supposed to stay on? Is there a
clip missing or is there a misalignment possibly involved?

-WaVy

This has been covered here previously. Google groups is your friend.

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q...aker s.saturn

Lane [ lane (at) evilplastic.com ]
---
Visit my Saturn Car Audio and Performance Page at http://www.evilplastic.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "wavy" >
Newsgroups: rec.autos.makers.saturn
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 10:46 PM
Subject: Stupid Saturn Trick


<snip>
> Anyone know how this shifter link is supposed to stay on? Is there a
> clip missing or is there a misalignment possibly involved?
>
> -WaVy
>

I clamped a large paper binder clip onto the bottom of the shifter
shaft. This seems to be keeping the broken plastic spindle from
slipping out of the cable mounting assembly.

Hard to believe Saturn used such a flimsy piece of plastic as an end
retainer. It appears to be a total hassle to replace... the end simply
sheared off - all 1 to 1.5 mm of plastic...
-WaVy

wavy wrote:
> I back up a little before shifting into 1st to get around an SUV parked
> on the street ahead of me. Suddenly I have a very loose shifter and
> that sucker is in REVERSE and it aint coming OUT!
> The only way to disengage is clutch. No shifter progress. Takes a
> couple of seconds and I know where to look.
> Turned off the engine. Fortunately - I had a phillips head onboard.
> Unscrewed the center panel rear screws. Pop the front panels - unscrew
> those two. Work the sumbitch loose and get it out of the way. Take a
> look - aha - the shifter mounting point isnt connected to f-b cable.
> L-R cable is intact and not disconnected - F-B cable isnt connected...
> there seems to be some kind of retainer missing? I can place the
> shifter's spindle into the cable's mount, but it eventually slips off.
> Especially from 2nd to 3rd. It didnt USED to slip off. This is a
> total bitch to drive because it disconnects and the only thing you can
> do is fumble around down there with one hand and fit those parts back
> together again (while youre stuck in 2nd or 1st) hopefully just
> coasting downhill with your foot on the clutch...
>
> Anyone know how this shifter link is supposed to stay on? Is there a
> clip missing or is there a misalignment possibly involved?
>
> -WaVy