Tranny shifter

[waltmail]

I haven't driven the '89 Reatta for awhile. Got a big surprise. Started it, stuck it in reverse and the shifter just kept going. No gear selection or detents. Is this a cable actuated system or shifting link? BTW, it won't go back into park now. Any hints?

[Guest imported_barra]

There is a cable that attaches to the shifter. Either it has broken or an adjustment/cable "lock" has changed. There is also a specific route that the cable must follow to attach correctly to the transmission to allow the shift lever to move from "park" easily. Have you had any recent transmission work or replacment?

[waltmail]

Thanks for the reply.

No, I haven't had any tranny work done lately. With your info, it seems worth my while to get underneath and check the cable condition out. I am familiar with aftermarket cable operated shifters as I work on quite a few classic restomods. Is the Reatta shifter cable readily available to your knowledge?

[Guest wally888]

Engine end of cable has plastic ball that fits over knob. Open hood, is down and a little right(inboard) of brake accumulator. Yours has probably come off/worn out inside from wobbling. Means the nut holding plate w/ knob is loose.

You can rig w/ rubber bands (probably melt), twist ties, etc.

Expensive part, whole cable-looks difficult to replace.

Lucky didn't come off in neutral on a hill! Mine did. Put in park , got out, it started rolling.......

[padgett]

I vaugly recall something about a recall or TSB on the shifter for the cable coming off the shifter in the console. Anyone have details ? Might be as simple as reinserting it.

[waltmail]

Great insight. I have a block of wood chocking my front wheel right now. I am glad to hear the possible problem is what I thought it might be, as in cable problem. I'll let you know if for nothing else than helping out someone down the line.

[Guest Greg Ross]

This cable will be a bear to replace, you have to disassemble most of the console to get to the section where it passes thru the firewall. As I recall the cable is clamped somewhere forward under the dash. When I was doing the swap to the 5-Spd. I had gutted this all out to position the Shifter so it didn't matter. In my case I had to basically rebuild a good part of the console mounting to work around the much bulkier shifter assembly.

[waltmail]

Thanks to the advice I received, I am now an expert at repairing disjointed shifter cables. My problem was at the tranny end. Easily accessed from the top side. Just snapped the cable socket back on the tranny shifter lever pawl and bingo, I have shift. Thanks so much for the direction.

[Guest wally888]

Whoa!

When reattached the plastic cap should be very hard to pull off?

If not, check bolt holding plate (plate is , I guess, actually the tranny shifter arm). Bolt is/was self locking. Mine backed off.

If it backed off-cap wobbled, worn away on inside, will pop back off, hopefully not on hill as you exit!

Cure for damaged cap=replace entire cable or rig something that can easily move as cable end/shifter plate moves back and forth but will not let cable pop off.

[Machiner 55]

[color:"red"] See Attached.

Shift Lever Repair

After having to revisit this situation every couple of months because the O-rings that I?d put on would deteriorate and I?d be in a position where I could go anywhere I wanted so long as it was in reverse, I finally broke down an performed a fix that I hope will last longer than the car. I pulled the shifter lever from it?s mount on the transmission. Locked it in a vice and filed a flat on the top of the ball. The diameter of the flat is about 3/16" I center punched a dimple in the center of the flat. Using a #36 drill in a drill press I drilled a hole to a depth of 9/16" into the center of the ball pin and threaded the hole with a 6-32 tap. Using a standard pointed tap followed by a bottom tap. ( you must be very careful doing this because the tap can break off in the hole and you?d probably never get it out.) I then got a 5/8" long stainless steel 6-32 Allen cap screw and super-glued two stainless washers to the underside of the head. The thickness of the washers are .060" and .040" for a total of .100". (give or take a couple grand) They are glued on so that they don?t fall off when threading the screw into the ball pin while working in the engine compartment. If they break free once the screw is threaded home, so be it ?cause it won?t matter then. Reinstall the lever back onto the Tx. Move the lever to the "Park" position. Put the plastic rod end over the ball pin. Apply a spot of some low to medium strength thread-locker to the threads of the cap screw (a tiny bit will do unless you never want to get it out again) then thread the screw down till it bottoms out. With the dimensions given, there should be some clearance between the lower washer and the top of the plastic rod end. If it binds when you tighten it, just back off some turns till you get the clearance. The Locktight that is on the threads will set and hold the screw at what ever position you leave it.

I did two of these The first one I had no problems. With the second one, I found that the metal that the ball pin was made of was harder than that of the first. You can check this when taking the file to the ball to make the flat. If the file runs over the ball without removing any metal from the ball then, the metal is harder than the file and you wont be able to machine it. Even if you succeed in drilling a hole without burning the drill point, you will surely bust the tap off in the hole. (remember to always use a tapping and or cutting fluid during these operations. Even a little motor oil will suffice) If you find that this is the case, you will need to anneal the ball pin. An Internet search will give you the detail and the science of heat treating metal but here I will just tell you how I did it. With the lever in a vice, use a Map gas or acetylene torch (I don't think a propane torch will have a hot enough flame) heat the ball pin and the end of the lever till it?s glowing red-orange and becomes non-magnetic. (check it with a magnet and you'll see that there is no attraction to the magnet while it is in this heated state. Bring it up to this stage slowly while moving the flame around constantly. You don't want to melt the thing or change It's shape, just heat it.

Keep it at that stage for a minute or so then shut down the torch. Using a pair of long needle nose pliers, grab the cooler end of the lever, release the vice and plunge the lever into a bucket filled with vermiculite. No vermiculite on hand? Use clay based Oil-Dri. What you're trying to do here is give the piece an insulated place to cool at a very slow rate. If you were trying to make the metal harder you could quench the red hot piece into a bucket of oil so that it would cool quickly. (ever hear of oil hardened steel?)

After an hour or two, dig around in the insulating medium with the pliers and remove the lever. This time when you hit the ball with a file to make the flat it should remove metal without difficulty. Worked for me!

Edited April 10, 2015 by Machiner 55 (see edit history)

[Machiner 55]

Here's a Wikipedia link regarding heat treating.

[DAVES89]

This is a bit more involved but would work. thanks John!

[Machiner 55]

Dave,

I did this almost nine years ago and that repair is still on the car.

Well worth the time and effort, I'd say.

John F.