Broken manual shifter cable?

SILVERCELICA

MEMBER
1996 TOYOTA CELICA
2.2L
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
200,000 MILES

Hi all,

Upon getting the car up and running I had realized that the car would not shift into most gears. Looking under the car, I saw that the shifter cable was hanging on by a thread, so I took it out of the car.

I have looked for shifter cable replacements and have not found any sold new. I can look for a junkyard one but I'm hesitant since the way it broke looks like a design flaw (it broke exactly at the point where it was bent almost 90°), so a junkyard cable may have the same weakness.

I'm wondering if there are any other options, like buying one new for another similar model or buying a kit or finding someone to fix it.

Given my lack of experience in this field, I'm not sure what the best plan of attack is, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

3 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
48,363 POSTS

I don't see the design flaw you are speaking of. You will need to get used cables or try to fix yours. Can you upload an image of the damage? Maybe I can help. Here is a diagram of the shifter and cables so we can be on the same page. Check out the images (below). Please let us know what happens.

Images (Click to make bigger)

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Saturday, December 31st, 2022 AT 11:44 AM

SILVERCELICA

MEMBER
17 POSTS

Thanks for the reply, the diagrams are on point.

It may not be a design flaw, but you can see in the image that the cable broke at the 90° bend. My fear is that another car with of a similar age would be vulnerable to the same weakness. Also, it was unsuccessfully fixed by a previous owner by placing a plastic cover over the break. There may be a more permanent fix out there, but I don't know if it.

Please let me know what you guys think.

Image (Click to make bigger)