legacycentral bbs

Hello all, my mom's 91 Legacy FWD (Read: front wheel drive) has a stiff auto shifter. I only noticed it recently since i haven't driven it for weeks but assume it's been like this for a week at least. The tranny performs fine as it should. But the actual shifter/linkage is suddenly stiff. And as a result requires more effort to move from "park" to any other gear or vice versa. It is even stiffer between "D - 3 - 2" than between " P - R - N - D" .... any help or ideas would be much appreciated.

As always, thanks!

The shift lever connects to a cable that runs up to the gear inhibitor/indicator switch. Maybe its getting bound up on something or the gear position indicator swtich itself came unscrwed slightly?

Try lubing all the under car shift linkage. (or jsut cleaning it a bit)

I had a similar problem.. but it was caused by copious amounts of mud from a rather fun aff road trip.

MK

Sorry to bring this back up but my 4EAT has the exact same problem. Did you find out what it was? Mine just started last week at a 170xxx miles.

I've been throwing a code 51 (inhibitor switch) on my legacy. What is the inhibitor swtich, where is it and how can I get to it?

The inhibitor switch is attached to the outside of the trans, on the right side.

The easy way to find it is to follow the linkage cable going from the shifter handle. It's not the easiest thing to get to, but it can be removed while the trans is in the car. To remove it;
- Pull the safety pin to remove the shifter linkage cable
- remove the large (17mm?? 19mm??) nut that holds the mechanism to the pivot that goes into the transmission
- remove the three small bolts (8mm? 10mm? that hold the inhibitor switch to the the body of the trans.

When you move the shift selector do the indicator lights on the gauge cluster work properly?

For a stiff moving shifter, lube the linkage cable, it is like a large bicycle brake cable...

Thanks for the info man, much appreciated.