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My anus hurts

L

LilCe98

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
2,030
Location
Richmond, VA
Now that I got your attention, my story.................

I've been getting a lot of shifter play ever since i installed a FRP short throw shifter back in march(about a inch or two and i can twist the tower left to right about a quarter of and inch). I posted about it but i got no response. It is annoying but manageable, so i dealt with it. Recently its been hard to get the car in second gear. I would put it in gear, but when i let off the clutch I hear a grinding noise. So after a bit of searching i decided to get a transmission fluid flush, since I've never gotten one since owning the car for 3 years. No one but the dealership sold the Ford honey so i took it there to get it serviced. While i was there i figured I might as well have them check on the shifter play as well. Well after $92 for the trans fluid flush and $110 for the diagnostic they told me that I'm missing a brushing in the inner shifter and I need new shift cables for a total of almost $600. Instantly my anus started to hurt. Now I never had a problem with the cables when I had the stock shifter and maybe I lost a brushing when I installed the short throw. They told me that i needed a whole new inner shifter. There's gotta be something else I can do. I'm going to try and get a second opinion from somewhere else besides the dealership. I took some pics when i installed the shifter to ask if i did everything right. I guess i should have posted these earlier.

Please help!! Thanks in advance:)
{J}
 

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I assume you mean "bushing."

And yes, it appears as though you are missing a bushing on the L-shaped arm in the top left corner of your first pic. There shouldn't be a big gaping hole there, there should be a white plastic bushing. That lever transfers the side-to-side motion of the shifter down to a push-pull motion at the cable and could explain both the play and the rotation you're describing. You might be able to rig something up in place of the bushing, but I'd see what kind of replacement parts are available first. I don't know what that has to do with a new set of cables, unless you have some other issue as well.
 
I'd go check out some junkyards and see if you can get that bushing off of one there. I'm not sure if you can but yours is gone so I assume they come out:crazy: That looks to be your problem for sure though.
 
Yeah i meant "bushing". I'm not sure why they are saying I'm in need of new cables either. When I picked up the car I asked the tech to show me exactly what I needed. He said I needed everything from the shifter down. Basically everything under the boot. Unless I'm missing something i just can't see why :shrug: He also showed me some play they saw under the hood. I'm hoping I can pick up something from the junkyard or rig something like you said. Hopefully when i do that it'll take care of everything.
 
LilCe98 said:
Unless I'm missing something i just can't see why :shrug:
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$$$ that's why :nonono:

Also, if there is play under the hood, that could explain why they want to sell you new cables. Your bushings on the trans end of the cables are probably shot. That will also contribute to the sloppy feel. They are really easy to check, turn the wheel to the right and jack up the car and look at the cable ends. If they're bad (or gone....) you can use a little piece of rubber hose and a snapring to replace them.

Good luck with that other bushing tho, I don't have any experience with that going MIA. :crazy:
 
hahahahahahaha i cant believe you paid that much already. you can get your three quarts of ford honey for about 45$ and do the drain/fill in about 20 minutes (if you cant sucessfully loosen and tighten two allen head bolts you shouldnt own an SVT vehicle)

as for the shift cables, sounds like an easy fix. the bushings are replacable but you will likely have them fall out again. usually new cables are the best fix. you can get the updated ones for about 70$ from steve at tousley ford. they take about three hours to put in. honestly these are a pain so try a bushing first.
 
The play under the hood is likely to be the bushings on that end as well. depending on the cables you have you might be able to get the ends and put them on and it will make a wonderful difference in your shifter feel especially with a bushing up top too
 
Thanks for all the help. My anus is feeling much better. I'm going to try and locate a brushing for up top first and see if that helps. I'm thinking that should solve the problem since I never had a problem with the stock shifter and installing the short throw is the only thing thats changed. If that doesn't work then I'll move to the cables and so forth.

In retrospect I should have expected an anal raping from a dealership named "Sherwood" :laugh:
 
Just to give this thread some closure. I picked up a bushing at the junkyard today, and surly enough that was the problem. The shifter is now cutting through the gears like a butter knife:) and it only cost me about 10cents instead of $600. Thanks for all the help
{J}
 
RTV Silicone. It worked longer then the cables did for me. I've had to do this twice already. It worked for both sets of cables.
 
rollinstylee said:
Yikes...that's a 600,000% dealer markup. :eek:

Better report them to the BBB. Glad I could help.
Click to expand...

Be realistic, it's not a mark up but a cheap fix.

A licensed mechanic will try to stay away from band ait solutions like this casue they can't guarantee that it will last. If they replaced only the bushings and a couple months down the road they fall out, the owner will be pissed and I guarantee it will start calling that mechaninc a POS. The shop would be forced to make it good at their own cost and if they didn't the owner will probably never come back. Their suggestion of replacing the shifter cables was a proper one.
 
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