Gear Shift

Hmmm, could be a number of things. Need more data. ie, climate you are in etc. Your shift cable could be freezing up. Maybe spilled soda down in shifter area? Best bet would be to take into dealer to have a look at. I only say this because this I consider a safety issue. Good Luck. Mike

It could be due to a number of things. Start by removing the console and examining the shifter parts carefully. Why it won't go into gear may be self-evident at that point. If not, then write here again with what you found.

CK,

The line indicating what gear your in is the least of your worries. As the other posters have mentioned it could be a few different things happening. The experience I've had with shift levers in my two cars was always good, they worked without a problem.

A couple of things you can check is the shifter Knob. Check to see that the button your pressing ( to release the shiftlever ) moves and is working. Remove the shift knob and look in the hole to make sure the plunger inside moves. SOmetimes a plastic spring clip inside breaks. Try oiling the skift knob button

Typical mounting is a C - clip that faces the dash. The Clip can be pulled out with needle nose pliers or a small screwdriver.

Also after you get the knob off the shaft there maybe a plastic rod sticking out of the end of the shaft. The plastic rod gets pressed down by the plunger that is inside the Knob.

Check to see if you can push the plastic rod down, this is what unlocks the lever so it can be shifted into the variuos gears. Try running oil inside the shift lever ( its hollow ).

Pull up on the plastic rod, if its broken it may slide out and this could be part of the problem. If there is not enough rod sticking up you can push it down with a screwriver to see if you can release the shiftlever.

Maybe some of the shift linkage underneath the car is bend or loose.

I'm not sure if your car has the vinyl boot around the shift lever or not?

I'm not sure if your console uses a sliding track system ( my cars did ) within itself to indicate the gear your in, but if those plastic parts have cracked or the guides channels have cracked they too could be causing the problem your experiencing.

Once you get some of the console apart if any plastic parts are broken they should be pretty easy to spot.

Console replacement parts are not cheap and could be discontinued by now.

Good Luck.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE, 3800 V6 _~_~_~_~274,049 miles_~_~_ ~_~_

This is getting a little bit mechanically minded, but IF the shifter itself will wiggle easily, but is hard to move over a longer distance, then it's reasonable to think something in the linkage itself is getting hard to move. That is, if the shifter only gets hard to move after the slack is taken up.This is likely to be a cable. In any case, whatever it is, a mechanic will have to fix it.

If the shifter won't wiggle easily then the shifter itself is getting stuck. I like the soda suggestion in this case. If the shifter is stuck together with sugar you can fix that yourself.

Out of curiousity, you didn't happen to buy this car in Wisconsin did you? I traded in a 94 teal/green Grand Prix back in November that had this same problem...

It was only bad when it was cold out, and it never affected the shifting itself. I'd had the car long enough where I knew where each gear was, so I never got it looked at.

Would be weird if you owned my old car...

-Wrench

Here's something to examine: The console shift not only selects the gear but it also rotates a collar around the steering column. Sometimes the linkage between the two gets balky and can cause the problem you describe. Sometimes it makes it hard to remove the key since the collar doesn't "see" that you're in Park. Try jiggling the collar and see how much play exists.

Frank