Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting ATX gearshift "crunch" when shifting???

HELP! Ok, here's the sitch... I've searched high and low through all the postings and it appears as though I have a one of a kind problem. I recently (yesterday) travelled down a bumpy gravel road during a rainstorm with my '97 Contour V6 ATX. Since then, when I shift from park to drive, the gearshift has a "binding/crunching" feel to it and there is a strange sound coming from it as well. The sound is hard to tell where it's coming from because you can hear it clearly both inside and outside of the car. If I shift from park all the way down to low back and forth a few times it seems to get better but only temporarily. Any ideas? I'm hoping to get some advice before I tear the console out and investigate further.

Chad
'97 Contour LX V6 ATX

Some gravel may have bounced up on top of the tranny case where the range selector lever is.

That's what it sounds like to me also. If it's only making noise when you move the shift lever, something probably got jammed in the linkage. Should be easy to locate if you look and listen under the hood while a buddy moves the lever a couple of times.