This may not be your problem, but I think I have/had a similar problem. A few months ago, my shifter had tons of play in it and occasionally, I wouldn't be able to get into second gear. Upon removing the boot, I could see that there were two torx bolts (later found out there should have been four) that had come loose. I tightened them and all was well. Last week, my problem came back so I went up to the dealer to look at their pictures of it. I found there are supposed to be four bolts and some sort of "retainer" over the top of them. It's possible this orange thing you are referring to is the retainer over the bolts. I don't have this "retainer" at all. It's possible it's not neccessary
and your torx bolts have just worked loose.
