Hard to move the column shifter.

I got into my 2000 impala this afternoon and found that it was hard to move the column shifter from Park to Drive. It was hard to move the shifter through the whole range from Park to 1. It had gotten a little better after I had drivin it for a while, but after I had parked for a while it had gotten hard to move again. Does any one have any idea what could be wrong? This happend all of a sudden.

? 'Cause it's cold in Utah? Kinda like in Maine?

Well it moved fine when it was 0 degrees, today it was 25 degrees. I'm hoping it's the wheather, but I haven't had this problem before in colder wheather. and I'm in Ohio.

Now this morning, I can't move the column shifter at all. It is totaly froozen. the wheather is warmer today than it has been in the past few days, so I don't think this has anything to do with the wheather. Does any one have any Idea what could be wrong?

Well i know that on most vehicles, the column shifter is released through the brake switch on the pedal, maybe thats the problem...does it feel like it's locked or just stuck....i don't have a hard time shifting mine when it's cold out and i live in michigan.

mike

I took the cable link off the arm that goes to the transmition and was able to move the column shifter with no problems. I used a wrench to move the arm that comes out of the transmition and it was not easy to move, but it did move from Park to other gears. It felt as if it was gummed up. I put the cable link back on and it as hard to move the column shifter again. So I beleive that the problem is in the trans where the gear shifter is.