I just lost reverse gear. Moved the shifter to reverse and there was no engagement. There's no resistance in moving the shifter from side to side. It feels like something popped out of place. Not sure what other gears are unavailable. I'm guessing the problem is with the shifter cable bushing. Repair video on YouTube (Saturn Stick Shift Shifter Cable Bushing Replacement). Will remove the console tomorrow and take a look. Is it possible to see the failed before removing it. Any tips on how to pop the the cable off the shifter? Don't think I can get a bushing locally; only choice is Ebay.

 

Usually when they break they fall into nowhere land. You don't need to pop the cable ends off because they are already off because the bushing broke.

Hold the cables, both of them, to the bottom of the shifter and shift with the top of the shifter into second gear. This way you can tell that you are in second gear because you are actually moving the cables to get there. Leave it in second gear and you can actually drive it around town you just have to put the clutch in and hold it in at red lights.

I recommend the stainless steel solution from Saturnbushingman. It JB weld's to the end of the shifter ball, then you slide the cable ends over and secure them with an e clip.

His directions say to put a cover over the open area where you pulled the carpet back to work on the shifter. Block every micron of space that would let anything fall through. If you don't get the e clip lined up right it goes careening every which way but eventually drains down into there. Kind of magical how it does that. Ask me how I know. His other design is a Teflon ball shaped thing. Dorman and others completely ripped him off on the design. He was the first that I know of.

Both my cars were done over 10 years ago and are solid.

The key is speed. You cannot let the JB weld start to set before you get the pieces together and clamped. If you do let it start to set, the bond will hold initially but will fail in a week. I think I actually wrote up my own version of it with pictures as a writing sample for something. Maybe I'll attach it.

 

I forgot to mention that I was able to drive the car after the loss of reverse. Not sure what gear I had, but I know it wasn't first, maybe second or third.

The problem was that the "retainer" on the driver's side shift lever had popped off. It wasn't damaged as far as I could tell; it just popped off. Pushed it back on and had full functionality again. It looks like the other bushing has been changed. I'm guessing that the factory one is flush on top and this one looked more like the spiky Dorman one, but without the metal retainer. In addition, the light for the cup holder was disconnected. Not sure if it fell off or someone forgot to put it back on after a repair. I'm going to order a stainless one from Saturnbushingman and chuck it in the parts box.

The part that popped off is very squishy and I'd like to replace it with a more substantial one. I don't know what the part is called. The Dorman OE fix shift cable bushing kit (14092),

This is the Dorman 14092

in general, looks like mine. I left the console off in the hope off finding a replacement in the next day or so. The video mentioned above is worth a look if for nothing else besides console removal. It took about ten minutes to take it off.

 

I've never seen that design before. I'll have to look into it just because. If you ever want to go back from the stainless steel solution, I believe if you heat it up hot enough you can get the two to separate. Haven't tried it but just guessing. Please snort some of the ground up Teflon from Saturn brushing Man and let me know if it's actually cocaine. I've always wondered. Cuz I thought it would be funny, real damn funny, if they were little bags of Coke, and when you repaired your sister bushing, you were sprinkling coke on it for dry lubrication.

Everything would be good and fine until a k9 search got you busted for storing Coke in your shifter. Not only would they destroy your center console getting it off, they would probably rip your cables off. Then the dog would hit directly on the bushing and Lord knows what they would use to get that off.

I try not to snort commercial plastics but...

I am familiar with the dorman spiky one. Always looked kind of goofy. I've always tried to figure out if that was their way of creating a spring force that pushed back on the cable ends so that they stayed in a single place but I don't know

 

Here's a picture of the actual "retainer".

 

Thanks, blink.

So it's a press fit through from the outside?

 

Yes, the black retainer rests inside the white linkage end piece. It is soft and malleable. I used one hand to pushed it over a "trailer hitch" shaped pin on the shifter. It was astonishing how little effort it took. Not the sort of thing you expect to find in an assembly that gets so much action.

 

I think people have always assumed that the original factory bushing was too stiff and instead of yielding a little bit to the cable ends, which were not necessarily always straight up and down they wouldn't be putting a constant stress on the bushing and after x amount of time the bushing would give out. What I particularly like about Saturn bushing man's design is the spacers that keep the cable ends vertical. Everything is on there pretty tight but the Teflon washers/spacers can yield just enough to take the abuse of shifting and no stress is enough to affect the stainless steel sleeve that runs through everything.

 

I spent some time trying to get the retainer to pop off again and it wouldn't. I'm gonna guess that someone didn't seat the thing properly when a repair was done. But I do have the fear that this will happen again. May loosely "clamp" the two sections together with a zip tie just enough so that the two parts can't separate on their own and call it quits.

Thanks for the help Derf.