05 Cavalier 5-speed shifter...loose?

I just recently purchased a used '05 cavalier with about 60k miles on it. Everything was great for a while, but recently the shifter has started to feel loose when I shift. I have no problem shifting, but it just doesn't feel as accurate anymore. It also feels like I'm getting slightly caught up when shifting from 2-3, 4-5 and vise versa. Also, when in gear, I can wiggle the shifter about an inch in every direction and before it always was firmly locked in place. I'm not popping gears or having any real issues, it's just an annoyance. I assume the problem is with the shifter bushing, but if this won't cause any damage to the tranny I'll just deal with the annoyance with the time being and save myself the trouble of paying someone $40 to replace it. So question is, is this normal wear and tear and can it be left go, assuming the problem doesn't get worse.

I have a little play even with my Short throw shifter. I don't think its an inch, but then again my shifter is shorter and the throw is 30% less than stock. Recalling everything that is inside the shifter assembly, they only thing I can think of that might be worn out is the rubber O-rings on the top and or bottom of the ball. If one of those was degraded, its possible the shifter could be malfunctioning like you state.

Only down fall if one of those being shot is, everyone i've know with that issue has NOT been able to find the correct replacement O-ring. Diameter size yes, but the thickness is always too large and it won't work. You also cannot just buy that O-ring from GM, you have to purchase a whole new shifter assembly.

If the side to side pivot pin was busted like mine was, you'd have issues every once in a while down shifting out of 5th into lower gears.

The best advice I can give you, is to remove your center console and look and see what is happening under there. Its not a hard job at all to do, and it will save yourself the money to have someone else do it for you.

So long story short, I ended up having to have my cav towed tonight. I decided I was going to mess around inside the center console tomorrow. So I proceeded to drive to mall and everything was fine. I go and get my awesome haircut and come back out.

I push the clutch in and start the car, never letting go of the clutch I put it into reverse to back out of my spot and it just dies. So I go to let my foot off to clutch just thinking I didn't give enough gas. The clutch pedal is stuck to the floor. I ended up having to gently pull the pedal up with my foot. So I give it a try again and push the clutch to the floor and start the engine. Engine starts fine but wont shift into any gear even with my foot apply a surplus of pressure to the clutch.

Gear shifting is fine when the engine is disengaged, but when the engine is engaged, it seems like the clutch isnt even depressed even though it is. So to sum things up, my clutch pedal isn't moving on its own or functioning correctly?

Any ideas? I vowed to become more handy with cars and if this is something I can work out myself I would love to, but I don't even know how to begin troubleshooting a problem like this.

Edit: Something I didn't notice before. The clutch pedal is only stuck when it is depressed about 3/4 the ways to the whole way. When I manually am pulling the clutch pedal back up, it springs back into place about half way up.

One of three 3 things for sure now...In order of least complication to replace.

1) Your hydrolic line has a hole. ( Look at your line line and if its the plastic one, its more than likely shot. All of them are eventually rubbing and bursting. GM re-designed them in late 05 to a metal hose, and included a new master cylinder all in one part number)
2) Your clutch master cylinder is shot
3) Your slave/throw out bearing has shot the dust. ( This is also one of the most frequent culprit. It also requires the whole transmission to be dropped.)

Well I went outside to take a look at things and the first I noticed was my hydraulic clutch reservoir was almost empty(below the mouth), which means I either have a leak or break in the line, best case scenario. Hopefully, it's just a leak, that way I can drive myself to the repair shop. Question though, will I need to bleed the line if it's a leak or can I just add more fluid and be good to go?

Edit: It is completely shot. I filled the reservoir up completely pumped the clutch a few times, it started to act normal, started the car. Pushed the clutch pedal in, tried to put it in gear, wouldn't go in gear, and the pedal was stuck again. Sure enough the reservoir I just filled up was empty and a nice puddle of brake fluid was under my car. So does anyone have a general idea how much including labor it will cost me to have the hose replaced. I'm still covered by my 50/50 warrant, so I "should" only have to pay half the fee.

Edit: It is completely shot. I filled the reservoir up completely pumped the clutch a few times, it started to act normal, started the car. Pushed the clutch pedal in, tried to put it in gear, wouldn't go in gear, and the pedal was stuck again. Sure enough the reservoir I just filled up was empty and a nice puddle of brake fluid was under my car. So does anyone have a general idea how much including labor it will cost me to have the hose replaced. I'm still covered by my 50/50 warrant, so I "should" only have to pay half the fee.

Getrag Clutch Hose - P/N 24233064

and do it yourself.

Part number i listed is for this lil guy, comes with line, res, and Master cylinder.

Bleed and go!

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/JMHZ2401/100_0415.jpg?t=1185455600

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/JMHZ2401/100_0414.jpg?t=1185455684

Thanks for the P/N. On a scale of 1-10 how difficult is the swap? That also looks a lot more solid than that line that got spliced thats in there now.

This is the revised one that GM made in late 05.

Maybe a 2 or 3. You got to get under the dash and disconnect the piston for the Master cylinder carefully. Thats about the hardest part of it all. Rest of just disconnect and reconnect, bleed and go.

Yeah it was fairly easy to replace. I actually got a used line for $35 from my buddy. Unfortunately it isn't a metal line, but for $35 I couldn't pass it up. The first one last over 60k miles, so maybe if I'm lucky this one won't break on me. I tried to keep it as far away from that sheet metal as possible, but I couldn't find another way to route it, so we will see.