Lazy shifting arm and whinning engine noise

Hi everyone, I have a 93 villager.
First my shifting arm hang down to about 1st when in drive, when in park it lays about in nuetral position. Now comes some more concerns. I have to almost jam it up into park and move the arm foward or else it stays in reverse. If I shift slowly the rreverse is easy to get to.
Now for my second concern, when I start up the car I get a whinning noise. Belts are fine, but I do remember a few months ago, when the underside got wet from a big puddle or it had been raining when I started the van, it would squeal very loudly for a few minutes. My lights would dim until the rpm's got up there. I figured this was just a wet belt. I was wondering about my other problem. could this be a bad timming belt tensioner?. The whinning can be heard until you hit about 40mph, and you hear it when the van sits in idle. Thanks for any help in this matter.
Paul. M.

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/YJ7RTSMIlIBKzJ6Cry6pfATXdxwQ4OgdloWAXaWdAEtO-zshXNuuIfe0QyH_UiarwOjp2CUnNMS1xzOGdueWjsU6O3R5Ca3 Ix4Y/%21Transaxle/looseshiftbolts.JPG

Take a look and make sure that these two bolts are still in place and tight. I believe that is your problem for the loose shifter. (They are located near the floor board of the vehicle.

Whining noise could be a the alternater. Listen real close with a cut off broom handle or screwdriver for any noise, could also be the idler pullley oon the alternater belt.

Let us know.

Hope this helps

the two bolts was a simple fix. Fact is, they dont make those tapered end bolts anymore, so i went down to the local hardware store and bought a couple of new bolts with normal heads. Took about 15 minutes, finding them was exactly like the picture someone posted. As for the whinning, I thought about the alternator. After 45mph you dont hear it anymore. This is why I thought it was a pulley or the alternator itself. My lights dont dim when I let off the gas, but a couple of people have noticed a slight dullness in the headlights.