Auto shifter stiff

[Erebus]

Over the past 2 weeks, my auto transmission shifter has become quite stiff until the engine/transmission has warmed up. I haven't gone on any longer drives to thoroughly warm things up to verify that it does indeed become normal when warmed up.

The actual shifting by the transmission seems entirely normal, it is moving the lever that is difficult.

I've checked the oil level and it is okay, and doesn't look bad. I forgot to do the smell test, will do that this afternoon.

The air temperature has been at 0 to -5. If the block heater is plugged in for an hour, it is less stiff.

It didn't do this earlier this winter, nor last winter when I had no block heater.

I now have 70,000 km on it, I've put 45,000 on it since I got it 2.5 years ago.

Do I need to lubricate the cable? Symptoms of something worse?

[White Mule]

From a male perspective, I would say that a "stiff" shifter was a good thing

Seriously though, "lube" it well and give it a good tug

The puns a purely by accident.

Has anyone taken the shifter apart and had a good look at the mechanism?

Can the cable become worn?

Any electronics involved? (fuse etc.)

[TardisDeli]

Hey Erebus, long time no hear. Hi White Mule, Happy Christmas. Are ya'll coming to visit soon, we have daffodils out here.

At the risk of a mere female stumbling into this boy's locker room topic ... may I politely hint you don't check the oil for transmission stuff, you check the tranny fluid, cuz I think you have a automatic not standard transmission, eh.

Tranny dipstick is aft of oil. Tranny fluid should be pinkish, does not smell of toast. You drain it, top it up with new, run it a few days, drain it again till it stays pinkish thus will have contaminated old fluid mixing with new for a bit till you have flushed it enuf times. Easy to do, but do it with warm engine so it flows out.

I did hear from someone local who broke their cable recently, Butch replaced it. As I recall from it happening on my FIAT, I two footed it to shift, rev to slightly higher than yr normal shift point by ear sound, then let revs gradually drop to normal sound then push shifter ignoring the grating sounds, if you time it right I got good enough that there were no grating sounds.

And of course, you've already taken the cover off the lever area by your chair (I think it's 2 or 3 screws to get the cover off -- can't get it all way off but can lift and twist it out of the way), to ensure that the last cup of coffe you spilled hasnt gummed up the area in there?

Humbly, Christine.

[FalcoColumbarius]

.....At the risk of a mere female stumbling into this boy's locker room topic ... may I politely hint you don't check the oil for transmission stuff, you check the tranny fluid, cuz I think you have a automatic not standard transmission, eh.

Tranny dipstick is aft of oil. Tranny fluid should be pinkish, does not smell of toast. You drain it, top it up with new, run it a few days, drain it again till it stays pinkish thus will have contaminated old fluid mixing with new for a bit till you have flushed it enuf times. Easy to do, but do it with warm engine so it flows out.....

Humbly, Christine.

Hehehehe.......... Christine, you're a card.

I always make it a point to only play with my shifter when my engine is warm. I might add to Christine's observations: If you are flushing out your tranny to change the filter, too. Regarding lubing your shifter wire ~ can it really hurt? I am toying, with the idea, of greasing my speedo wire ~ sometimes I hear this quiet ticking sound coming from behind the instrument cluster.

Falco.

[Erebus]

I've checked the oil level and it is okay, and doesn't look bad. I forgot to do the smell test, will do that this afternoon.

Okay, okay, "I've checked the [transmission] oil level." As for the smell test, I hope it smells better than some of these posts!

I've speed shifted before in my manual transmission Datsun which had a leaky clutch cylinder. But in my current case, the transmission is doing its thing just fine, it is only the lever that is having issues.

Christine, I've never spilled coffee in the shift tower, I only store glue there.

[impalator]

Consider moisture (water) to be the culprit... I had a somewhat similar issue when our van was suffering from bad wet floor syndrome. Somehow the moisture made its way into the shifter mechanism - and with cool temperatures, this may lead to frost in the cables. In my case, the solenoid releasing the shifter mechanism once you step on the brake pedal appeared to be shut - i.e. despite stepping on the brake, the shifter wouldn't budge.... I ended up removing the (also) cable operated "pin" that blocks the shifter from being moved without applying the brake. Therefore: I can now shift from "P" to "D" etc. even without hitting the brake.

I also WD40-ied the entire shifting cable and lever mechanism inside the cab before putting the enclosure back on.

Ever since that, the shifting's been smooth...

Good luck,

Chris

[FalcoColumbarius]

Word of warning.... WD40 is a degreaser/cleaner. It may temporarily lube the surface it is on but it will dry out ~ it is designed to do that. When I was a cycle courier in the UK we kept a can of WD40 to clean the chain of road crap to stop the chain from derailing ~ but every weekend we would be taking the sprocket & bottom bracket off our bicycles to regrease for the following week.

Falco.

[maxpowers]

mine has been stiff for a while now almost a year or so, no problems at all with the tranny, I reckon its just the cable.

[Erebus]

Word of warning.... WD40 is a degreaser/cleaner. It may temporarily lube the surface it is on but it will dry out ~ it is designed to do that.

I knew that, but it is good to mention for those who aren't as brilliant as I. I figure I'll use graphite or silicon. Now just need some Vancouver weather ...

[mararmeisto]

...f you are flushing out your tranny to change the filter, too...

The transmission 'filter' in the L300 is a screen, it's not really a filter, and unless you got chunks in your fluid, it's more of a bother changing the 'filter' than it's worth.

...I also WD40-ied the entire shifting cable and lever mechanism inside the cab before putting the enclosure back on...

I'm going to echo Falco's comments about WD-40: don't use it unless you follow up with some lubricant. WD: "water displacement", and once it dries there's nothing there. Try something else like LPS-2 (which IS a lubricant).

Or, a graphite grease would be good, especially if you can pull the cable out of it's sheathing, grease it, and then thread it back inside. CAUTION: this is generally more difficult than the previous sentence indicates - proceed only if you've got the patience and a steady hand.

[MardyDelica]

hi, erebus,
you need to replace the shifter module attached beside your transmission on driver side.
this will fix your problem as this is the controlling the shifter from part to other gear.
check this & your be happy again. fix many of this & it works good.
cheers;

[Erebus]

And of course, you've already taken the cover off the lever area by your chair (I think it's 2 or 3 screws to get the cover off -- can't get it all way off but can lift and twist it out of the way), to ensure that the last cup of coffe you spilled hasnt gummed up the area in there?

Actually, you can remove it. Unscrew the 4x4 shifter's knob, then raise that whole cover, put shifter into Driver (or so), turn the cover 90 degrees and it will lift over the shift handle.

My shift problem has gotten worse, but I've narrowed down where the problem is.

Anyway, I opened it up a second time today, since it was reasonably warm.

It isn't the shifter and transmission, it is the cable that goes from the shifter to the instrument panel and runs the display of what gear you are in.

The last few days I had to push the shift lever forward a bit to have it register that it was in Park so it would start. Even then, the dash display wouldn't show it as being in Park.

Yesterday even that wouldn't work, so I had to get it into neutral. Not just the transmission into neutral, but the display into neutral as well. That took putting it into D or 2, which gets the display into N. Then moving the lever into neutral, and the display stayed in N, and the Delica would start.

In other words, the display lags quite a bit from what the transmission shows. I've been able to have the tranny in D while the display shows R.

Hope this description makes sense.

So anyone have advice before I rip the dash apart?

[Green1]

Have you tried lubricating the cable leading to the dash?

Does this mean we're taking my Delica for the car rally?

[Erebus]

Have you tried lubricating the cable leading to the dash?

Does this mean we're taking my Delica for the car rally?

The shifter end of the cable isn't very cooperative.

And, ya, we should take yours. I can usually get it to work, but it isn't happy. Oh, to have CVI down the street

[Erebus]

hi, erebus,
you need to replace the shifter module attached beside your transmission on driver side.
this will fix your problem as this is the controlling the shifter from part to other gear.
check this & your be happy again. fix many of this & it works good.
cheers;

Would that be on the passenger side, just behind where the shifter cable goes into the transmission?

It isn't the shifter and transmission, it is the cable that goes from the shifter to the instrument panel and runs the display of what gear you are in.

And...no it isn't. There IS NO cable. There is a cable that does the "step on the brake or you can't shift" thing, and that is just fine. The dash display is entirely electrical, as I found when I took the dash apart (Thanks Mystery Machine for posting great instructions for that: http://www.delica.ca/forum/dashboard-re ... e-305.html)

So, it has to be in the transmission. Suspect it is going to need opening up. Mardy might just be right. I sprayed the shifter arm at the transmission with silicone, we'll see if it helps at all.

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