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Inspection shop calls me: shift linkage mysteriously broke overnight. Sitting still...

G

Guitarman19853

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
May 21, 2005
Messages
1,305
Location
Pittsburgh, Pa
The shop that my car is at for inspection calls me this morning saying the shift linkage is mysteriously broken. He said it was like that when he got in it. Now, I drove the car there last night and parked it there. Definitely shifted into 2nd before turning into their lot and into 1st when parking.

My question is, should I buy his story? Or, for example, would it be possible to break this if you were trying to force it into reverse without using the lockout?

:mad:
 
i would call BS. did you by chance check your mileage before you turned it over to them?
 
I didn't check the mileage. I trusted this shop. The owner's son is my buddy who also works there. They've worked on my car the past 3-4 years. Not sure I'll be going back there though...
 
Broken shift tower bolt?

Broken shift tower bolt?

It could be a broken shift tower bolt. It has happened to several folks on this list, so it is entirely possible that it broke when you shifted the final time. Look up broken bolt in the shift tower. Plenty of information out there
 
I got a little more detail since my last post, It broke at something at the end of the cable. He said he called Ford and depending on the year, you can replace the piece or have to get the whole cable (it's attached). Unfortunately he only ordered one so if he's wrong it will be 2 more days of waiting.
 
So it's broken at the transmission end or in the car? I don't think either one could be broken by the reverse lockout, as that just physically prevents the shifter from moving to reverse.
 
Transmission end... I'm going down to the shop now to see for myself. If the bolt is broke they need to know that they'll have to fish it out of the transmission.
 
wtf.... I went to the shop and DROVE the car.... absolutely nothing was wrong...

One of 3 things happened...
1. They lied to me
2. They're on crack
3. (and this is really giving him the benefit of the doubt) He couldn't figure out how to get it in reverse with the lockout and assumed it was broken.

They better have a good answer tomorrow. None of the mechanics were there when I went.
 
Okay so it is the white clip at the end of the cable. He said it was missing entirely. I guess he rigged the cable up so that he could move it back.

I just hope he got the right replacement part. Ford says the clip changed on 4/1/99, my build date is 3/31/99. It's taken 2 days for him to get it and if he got the wrong part, it's going to take a lot longer.

He described enough of it that I knew he wasn't BS'ing.
 
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