Quote:
Originally Posted by 88911coupe
You may have an issue with the plastic socket that holds the shifter.
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That would be my diagnosis too. Snapped into the tail end of the shifter housing itself is a plastic ring that the main shift rod passes through. This is a guide ring that forces the shift rod to rotate instead of moving side-to-side. When that bushing completely falls apart, you can't select any of the following gears: 1st, 2nd, 5th and reverse.
These gears are selected by first pulling or pushing the shifter handle sideways, which makes the transmission shift rod rotate. The rotation is what engages the appropriate shift fork in the transmission to then select the aforementioned gears when you then push up or down on the shift handle. If that bushing is starting to fail, what you'll feel is the shifter flopping a bit because the bushing is no longer tightly capturing the shift rod and forcing it to instantly rotate