Oh crap! Need a lil' help.

[chaditotx]

Ok... 1971 El Camino, TH350 column shift. I am cruising around and my 3 year old kicks my column shift into reverse about 30 mins. ago. That is where the "Oh Crap!" comes in. The tranny still shifts into gears just fine for the most part, but only sometimes locks into park without the vehicle rolling, and sometimes hangs and the column won't let me shift into drive. If I slide it back to park and then into drive it will work.

The main thing is that something in my column seems to be broken.. You know where you have to pull towards you to come out of park? Mine will now just slide right over, without pulling the knob towards you. Hopefully someone out there can offer some advice on this one.

Thanks

[DGB454]

I think the problem is in the selector gear. It's a plastic gear located behind the key cylinder. It has notches in it for each gear. The largest notch is where park is. I think what might have happened is that this large notch/hump was broken off or at the very least partially broken. This would cause the problems you described like just sliding into gear without pulling the shift lever towards you. The reason it may lock into park on occassion might be because the broken part is getting lodged but breaks free once you mess with it some. The good news is the part if fairly inexpensive. Between $10.00 and $20.00. You can order it from Original parts group or I found one in Year One. I believe they both have websites.

[chaditotx]

Thanks DGB454! Absolutely the best answer I have received yet! It was kinda goofy before anyway, now just noticeibly worse. Thanks again!

Chad

[DGB454]

No problem. If you can't find the part then I can give you the part # and the phone # for Year One.

[cannibalrights]

Ask a machainc. Sorry, dont know much about Caminos.