Why wont my Shifter move?: Automatic

[Jon89le]

Yesterday while Lorenzo and I were working on my car it came to my attention that my shifter wont move even with the car in the 'On' position. The shifter linkage is also not even attached to the tranny. I tryed figuring it out today but i cant find squat. When i do try and shift, you can see the linkage slightly moving in and out but after that it feels like somethings binding it up. Are there any ideas on what the hell the problem could be? Prior to the motor going in the car the shift was able to move back and forth with no problem with the car in the 'on' position. Are there any other things that would lock it up? The car is an '89 GP with the vacuum controlled auto 440-T4 tranny. Thanks for any help...

[Jeorge]

your foot on the brake?? I know I dont need to but maybe you have too....

[Jon89le]

With my car the brake isnt needed to disengage the tranny. But for arguments sake that didnt work either...lol

[Jeorge]

check to see you didnt kink the cable at the fire wall when you pulled the motor and tranny

[Jon89le]

Not that either, the cable or linkage if you must that bolts to the tranny goes directly into the firewall. no obstructions. Is there anything maybe inside the car, like under the shifter itself that may be doing it?

[gpse3200]

Maybe you looked at it funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jon89le]

Yea, i probably pissed her off and now shes giving me the finger,lol. Maybe its because my dad got that Shell oil...

[GnatGoSplat]

Is the cable moving properly that's hooked up to the column?

There's a cable that unlocks the gearshift lever and it hooks to the ignition switch or somewhere in that area.

[Jon89le]

Shawn, can you elaborate a little more on that cable? The cable that you mention thats hooked to the column, are you refering to the one that comes out of the firewall and into the engine bay?

[gpse3200]

Yea, i probably pissed her off and now shes giving me the finger,lol. Maybe its because my dad got that Shell oil...

 

Rotella?:)LOLOLOL Sounds like a pasta from Ronzoni! Rotella 53!!!!

 

Unless you shit lock cable is bound up, you might have to take off the center console and see if thats it.

[gpse3200]

whoops! I meant shift lock!!!lol

[GnatGoSplat]

Yeah, shift lock. That's the one I'm talking about. It goes up into the dash but not into the engine compartment.

[Jon89le]

Alright, well i have no clue what the problem was but its gone now. Something lust have been pinched when my center consol was put back on after painting it. But now i have another question. Is my tranny supposed to be super tight? I mean, i cant shift unless i forcefully push the linkage on the tranny as my dad pulls on the shifter handle. Is this simply because the tranny is bone dry except for the oil in the TC? This is the only logical thing i can think off since the gears are dry and there for have a lot of friction.

[gpse3200]

Hmm, it's odd that the selctor shaft is hard to turn, I'm sure they greased it when the put it all in... But its a possibility they didn't? hopefulyy the P/N switch isn't bound up either. For now You'll need to readjust the linkage. Move the selector shaft on the trans to Neutral and then move the shifter to neutral. Pull out the clip on the end of the shifter cable like I showed you and it'll go into adjustment, then replace the clip. This won't fix that problem but at least the cable will be adjusted.

[Jon89le]

alright, ill try and do that tomorrow if i get the chance. im praying its just the tranny being dry. Because if they f*cked my tranny up and i paid 3400 for that tranny all hell, and i mean ALL HELL WILL break lose.