I am stuck in first gear!

[SHO-UP]

I am a newby to this board and this is my first post. I have been reading the posts for some time. I have an 89 with all the bells and whistles. Well, onto the problem. I went to shift from first to second, BINGO, no shifty. The lever only moves forward (into first) and back (into neutral). It does not move from side-to-side. Does this sound like an internal or external problem? Do these cables have a history of breaking? Can the snap-on ball and socket get worn such that they pop off? I didn't hear any noises when this happened. All of a sudden it didn't work; no warnings, nothing.

PS-I currently live in S Jersey. We will be moving to the UP of MI the end of March.

 

[SilverSHO]

You lost a cable. The same thing happened to me, and I found that one of the cables had come off its ball on the bottom of the shifter. In my case, the socket had cracked, so the cable wouldn't stay on, and I had to replace the whole cable. Sounds like you lost the same cable I did.

It's not a difficult job, but you will spend some time under your dash holding down carpet and cursing the heat shield that runs above the resonator. It's right in front of the hole that the cable passes through. You'll probably need an extra set of hands under the car to guide the cable to where it has to go, but I'd personally rather change a shift cable than a water pump.

 

[Gez89SHO]

Sounds like the forward/backward cable has slipped off at the trans end. Get under the car and try to put it back in place. If it feels real loose, then it's missing the grommet/bushing there (really likely, they forget to replace them after a clutch job usually).

 

[SHO-UP]

Thanks for the quick replies. After I posted my dilemna I went out to look at things. As soon as I pulled off the shift boot I saw the problem: the spring clip had come off of the crossover cable retainer bracket (I guess that would be what you would call it). I don't know how that thing came off because it didn't go back on that easy.