2001 2.4 manual tranny problem...

[Marrko]

So here's the deal. I've got a 2.4l manual. The problem is this: anytime when i wanted to take the KEY out i always had to shift the gear in reverse, but now i don't have to. (don't have a clue how that happened) i can take the key out at any gear set. But now i have problems with shifting in to the rear gear. sometimes it shifts easily, but most of the time I have to use almos all my strenght to do that. I took the console apart and tried to look wat's wrong but i can't see anything... ecept for the plastic thingie thats under the shift (when i put in reverse it pulls up a little bit (it's black) when not it stays down... ). the plastic thingie is scrubed and i can see metal in some places on it.. hope someone understood my problem...please help...

[Mischief007]

It sounds like the lockout collar is engaged all the time since you can remove the key in any gear.

I'm sure someone can chime in who have replaced their shifters or seen this problem. Mine is still fine so I can't really help you out there.

[TheMeaningOfLife]

My zx2 did that. Do you really have to man handle it in or its just hard to get to slip in?

[Marrko]

it's realy hard to slip it in.... :(

[Cliff8928]

It sounds like you just have to remove the top piece of the console so you can get at the shifter and flip the little lever that controls the lock-out back to where it's supposed to be.

[Marrko]

and where's that? :)

[Cliff8928]

If i had my car right here I'd just take a pic... But I can't, so i have to try and describe it.

If you remove the top part of the console so you can see the shifter, there is a little lever on the right side of the shifter that has a small cable attached to it. This lever is what controls the lock for the shifter when the key is in the off position. If i remember right, the lever has to be towards the back when the shifter is NOT in reverse, but that could be wrong. Basically you just need to open that up and flip the lever in the other position (make sure it's not in reverse at the time!) and see if that fixes your problem.

[Mischief007]

This here is the lockout collar (grey plastic) and the orange piece towards the bottom is your key release cable.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/Mischief007/LockoutEngagedKeyReleaseNotEngagedM.jpg

Lockout Collar Engaged:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/Mischief007/LockoutEngagedMedium.jpg

Lockout Collar Not Engaged:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/Mischief007/LockoutCollarMedium.jpg

Key Release not Engaged (look at the slack at the end of the cable there where it goes into the black piece:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/Mischief007/KeyReleaseNotEngagedMedium.jpg

Key Release is Engaged (Look how the end piece of the cable is flat against the black piece:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/Mischief007/KeyReleaseEngagedMedium.jpg

Close up of the key release cable. I can actually push the cable to have it release in any position:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/Mischief007/KeyReleaseMedium.jpg

Close up of the Key Release cable:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/Mischief007/KeyRelease2Medium.jpg

Cliff, you can chime in whenever you want :). This is what I found out when I was playing around with the shifter which is also how you explained to Marrko :).

[sburke]

I had the same problem with my alero. I ended up replacing the shifter console anyway, but that is just because I was putting in a short shifter and didn't want a piece of crappy plastic having any impact on the shifter.

Anyway, to get me through until the new shifter assembly arrived, I just unhooked the orange cable and pulled out the greased metal ball you can see in the last picture. There is a bar connected to all of that, and the plastic that goes with it bends over time. This is what gave me problems shifting. It may be the same for you. Good luck, I hope that wasn't confusing.

[Cliff8928]

Cliff, you can chime in whenever you want :). This is what I found out when I was playing around with the shifter which is also how you explained to Marrko :).

Man, I couldn't have asked for better pics! Those show how it works perfectly.

[steve-o]

I unhooked mine when I first got the car, main reason beings is because I got a car starter.

[spyhunter]

what I did was disable all of that crap and just got a B&M shifter knock off on ebay. No troubles since.

[Marrko]

thnx allot ppl :) don't have time to do that at this time but it's gona be fixed right this saturday :)