'93 Civic auto-trans shifter trouble

[sundog33]

Hey everybody, I've got a question.
I just bought a '93 Civic. It's automatic (I know, but it's what I can afford), and there's a problem with the shifter: it's VERY hard to shift from park to/through reverse to drive.
Once in drive, though, it performs just fine through all the drive gears, no stiffness whatsoever, until I shift back to reverse (whereupon due to the stiffness I sometimes have to "jiggle" it back and forth a bit before it engages).
Shifting back through reverse to park is just as difficult.
The car has 200,000 kms (approx. 125,000 miles) on it. A couple of days ago, I changed both the engine oil and the transaxle fluid; both were BLACK. You couldn't tell them apart.
Could this simply be a problem with the shifter adjustment cable? Or am I looking at a major problem with the transaxle?
I've done searches in as many ways as I can think of; but I've had no luck regarding this specific problem.

Any suggestions? I'd really appreciate it.

[1995HondaCivic]

someone asked this before, and i'm pretty sure someone said that your tranny is/will be going soon

[esp]

do you have a shift knob on it. my shifter in my can was messed up for a while and if would shift hard from park to reverse also. mess around with the shift knob. take it off and put it back on it helps i tell you it helps.

[sundog33]

Originally posted by esp
do you have a shift knob on it. my shifter in my can was messed up for a while and if would shift hard from park to reverse also. mess around with the shift knob. take it off and put it back on it helps i tell you it helps.

Yeah, but I've taken it off, in fact completely removed the shifter console, to see if something was impeding proper movement.... nada, and even without the shift knob it still has a brutal stiffness going to/through reverse from park. Something else, maybe a little more telling, maybe not, but right now when I put it in reverse, in motion the transaxle sounds identical to a manual one. Or is that normal with a 5th gen Civic trans??

In any case, I appreciate your input, guys. Thanks.

[Jigga White NOS]

I think esp may be right try taking just the shift knob off and push down on the bare metal piece until it pushes down into the shaft. That's the safety lock that prevents you from accidently shifting into park or reverse. If the bare metal piece doesn't push down that's probably your problem. If it does push down and it shifts better then its the button on the shifter knob that's broken.

[sundog33]

Hi, guys, I found the trouble!

There was a small kink in the shifter cable housing just outside where it enters the transaxle. After removing the assembly, and spending several minutes applying lubricant to the cable and sliding it back and forth inside the housing, it loosened right up.

I re-attached it and now you can't tell it's operation from new!

I'm going to replace the assembly with a new one, though.

Thanks again for your suggestions.