falls out of gear

[ricedneon]

My 99 R/t will not go into gear it basically falls back into neautral, it just started and only won't go into the bottom gears, 2nd, 4th, and R. Any one experienced a simular problem or have any ideas ????? Please and Thanks in advance.

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[denisond3]

My 97 Neon has the automatic, but from the Service Manual I can see there are two cables that take the action of the shift lever to the top of the tranny. One cable handles left-right movements of the shift lever, and the other one handles the movement of the shift lever fore-and-aft. The cables are attached at each of their ends with eyelets/grommets, they both are attached just ahead of the shift lever location with retaining clips. If you undo the console between the front seat so you can see the cables from the shifter, you may see the problem. If the problem is in the engine compartment you may have to remove the battery and the battery box to see the forward ends of your cables. You may need to lift the 'power distribution center' (box of relays) out of the way too.
If you are going to open it up and fix it, I would replace both cables, and any other part of the shifter mechanism that looks worn. Fast/hard shifting in the past may have caused the failure.

[das2123]

Check your shifter bushings and/or adjust your shift linkage.