Need to replace gear shift linkage for second time

2006 MERCURY OWNER

MEMBER
2006 MERCURY MARQUIS
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
195,000 MILES

Car either will not turn over or upon starting engine, will not shift out of park.

I can either gently rock the car forward and back, or tilt the steering wheel to another position. Then I can shift out of park.

I believe it is the gear shift cable, which I had replaced at 90,000 miles by a trusted local shop.

When it went out before, the gear indicator on the steering column was not lining up to show the correct gear the transmission was in. After replacement of the gear shift cable the repair the shop told me they could not get it to line up exactly, But the repair was fine until recently.

I have two questions:

1. Am I on the right track thinking it must be replaced again?

2. How much should I expect to pay? I cannot recall how much it cost the first time.

I am taking it to the same shop. They do good work and stand behind it.

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,871 POSTS

What you must absolutely not do is ask your mechanic to replace something. If it does not solve the problem, you did not pay him to diagnose the cause. You did that yourself, so it is not his problem if it did not solve the problem. The reason for that comment is the shifter cable is just a linkage between the handle and the transmission. Getting the handle out of "park" doesn't involve the cable. It involves an electric solenoid next to the shift lever.

When tilting a tilt-column steering wheel causes something to start working or stop working, it is almost always due to broken wires in that area. This is especially common on cars where multiple drivers move the wheel a lot.

A stretched or frayed shift cable can cause the transmission to not be fully in "park", and that can cause the transmission range sensor to say it's in "reverse" so the starter will not work. I would be surprised though if that cable is bad again. Most last well beyond the life of the car, and to have two fail, I would be looking deeper for the cause. When the no-crank occurs, try shifting to "neutral", then see if it cranks. A defective range sensor can cause a no-crank too if it reports you're in "reverse" or some unknown position between two gears.

I have not worked on your model, but almost all vehicles today do not use a pointer attached to the shift lever to show which gear you have selected. They typically use a spring-loaded pointer on a plastic slide. The pointer is pulled with what looks like a piece of fishing line hooked to a tab on the shift lever. There s always a way to adjust those. Chrysler's have a small Allen-head screw to adjust the pointer's position. Some vehicles use a tab on the lever that is bent one way or the other to set the pointer's position. There are also some where the pointer is a two-piece affair. The pieces have tiny teeth that lock them together, but they let the pointer shift position on the slide. Those self adjust when you pull the shifter all the way to the lowest gear, and again when you shift to "park". One of those ways the pointer gets there first, and is blocked from going too far, then the slide catches up and the teeth jump over each other to make the pointer in adjustment.