Loose Gear Lever-96 Lumina

Tonight as I was switching gears from reverse to drive, my gear lever suddenly got very loose. My Lumina was sitting for a while in 30 degree weather so there was a little difficulty in shifting from park to reverse and then this incident happened with reverse to drive. Since I am far from a mechanic, I would like to know what this problem could be, from best case scenario to worst case. More importantly, is this repair going to break the bank?

A common place for the lever to become loose is the pivot pin for the lever itself. Make sure the pin is fully pressed into the column. If you place the selector in "1" or "L" you can see the pin fairly clearly at the base of the lever.

If the pin is fully inserted and the shift lever/linkage is still loose, check the shift cable at the transmission. The shift cable is adjustable and uses a metal horseshoe clip in a plastic housing to lock the adjustment in position. It is possible the adjustment is slipping at this connection or at the transmission selector lever itself.

If you need to drive someplace that's more convenient to repair it, you can set the e-brake or have someone hold the brake while you reach down and move the shift selector bellcrank on the tranny into drive, from under the hood, while it's running...been there, done that...

Drove a POS Dodge Omni to work for months like that...too cheap to buy the cable...

Just remember that on the other end, you'll need to do same to put it in park...