jamesmetairie

1998 lumina with about 75,000 miles on it. recently noticed it,s taking more and more effort to move the shift lever . today i got mad and jerked it all the way up and down several times thru the gears from "p" to "l" . now it seems a little better. anyone else have this problem.

jeffcoslacker

Shift cable is going bad on you. By yanking it through all the ranges, you moved it into a part of cable that normallly didn't get used, and had some grease left on it, which lubed up the length that normally sees use (P thru D). As the weather gets colder, it'll bind more you can bet, though. It may get to where you almost can't get it in gear if it's real cold out....

I do the same thing, work it through all the ranges from time to time and it eases up somewhat...Last year I had the cable apart at the adjuster sleeve and force-fed it a little bit of penetrating oil....hasn't been a problem since....

jeffcoslacker

Yesssss.....I can feel your anger....... use it to strike the Lumina down, and your transformation to the dark side will be complete....

richtazz

If it's a floor shift car, it's possible that something was spilled in the console and has the mechanism all gunked up. If it's a column shift car, try the tilt wheel in a different position to see if it frees it up. If it does, it could need lube on the cable like Jeff said.

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jamesmetairie

thanks guys for the quick response. is it difficult to access the adjuster cable?

jeffcoslacker

On my '97, the cable is the first thing you see on the driver's side when you open the hood. It runs front to back, right in between the washer fluid jug and the battery. There is a big outgrowth on it with a rubber bumper kinda thing, and a sleeve/collar that partially wraps the cable, it can be pulled straight off and you'll see the threads that allow the cable to be adjusted. The cable can actually be pulled apart here with a little force...but you have to get it back together like it was in order for the shifter to index the gear positions correctly. It's kinda hard to describe exactly how it all fits together in text.

I'll see if I can find a better description of how it works....

northwichita

I had the same problem, tight shifting with the column shifter, my problem was solved by lubricating the little ball near the shift column the creates the indents when you shift between the P R D etc . Believe I took of the lower plastic panel, lowered the steering wheel and looked up. Easy.