AT Shifter difficult to shift after sitting

turbodrabbit' · Post by **turbodrabbit'** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:34 pm

So, here is the deal. I just finished a 5 and a half month hike on the Appalachian trail from Georgia to Maine. While I was away, I asked my father to start and drive my 1994 TW on the occasion. I even called him to remind him of this fact. Well he didn't.

I just gave it a jump because the battery was dead, and it fired right up. I go to put it in drive and I have to really pull on the shifter to get it into drive. I worked the shifter from park to 1 several times and it got better, but it still is difficult to move.

So I was driving it down the road and I stopped at a shop and when I got back in, the car wouldn't start. It did have juice to start, so I know it wasn't the battery. It was the neutral safety switch that didnt allow it to start. So after playing with the shifter, i got it to start, but it wouldn't shift out of park. So it took 10 minutes of playing with the shifter to hear the relay click to shift out of park.

It happened again at home, so I opened up the console and manually pushed the button. I assume this is a shifter cable problem, I tried to search and didn't find anything, mostly manual trans cable problems.

Any info would be appreciated.

fishbone79 · Post by **fishbone79** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:45 am

It could be the cable or maybe the switch on the side of the tranny is sticky?

Before I did my swap I had an issue similar to this with that stupid thing.

I'm jealous of your thruhike... got pics??

turbodrabbit' · Post by **turbodrabbit'** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 4:11 am

Unfortunately the mechanism on the side of the tranny is also next the exhaust so I have to let it cool down before I dive into it.

I have a ton of pics, I will send you the link to travel website.

ericem · Post by **ericem** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:31 am

With my car was the same way. I think I sprayed a bunch of oil, penetrating oil to be exact or I hit up a few car washes with underspray and it fixed itself with driving. Do both!

turbodrabbit' · Post by **turbodrabbit'** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:34 am

What exactly did you spray with oil/water? The linkage on the side of the trans or did you lubricate the cables?

ericem · Post by **ericem** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:52 am

The linkage. The cable is usually fine its the linkage that gets all rusty.

legacycentral bbs

A forum for 89-94 BC-BF(BJ) Legacy Owners and Fans

AT Shifter difficult to shift after sitting

AT Shifter difficult to shift after sitting