Shifter issue - Honda Prelude Forum

vainot4u · 05-25-2010, 03:46 PM

Hey guys, really hoping someone can help me out here. I was driving home on Saturday and shifted into third "forcefully", this was common for me to do as 3rd in my car didn't seem to like to be shifted into at WOT. Well when I did the shifter went forward to far and I was like WTF!? Instantly I slowed down and tried driving regular...1st felt very "mushy" to shift into, 2nd was fine, 3rd was mushy...hmmm...so I did some research and found out that a bad/broken shifter cable can cause this (mostly if you break the sleeve that the cable slips through at either end?), so I set off and opened up the center console and the engine areas to see if this was my issue. Neither area was broken and in fact with the cable was disconnected from the tranny I could move it back and forth freely with out snag or hesitation...okay??...I've inspected both areas fairly thoroughly but I see no issue...now I am at a total loss as to what this could be, and am trying to avoid taking it in if I don't need to so any ideas are welcome...

barzook · 05-25-2010, 05:43 PM

I know you said nothing was broken at cable ends, but my guess would be that your problem in at the transmission side cable mounting points. Inside the car there're pretty sturdy and if they break, nothing would work at all, but outside is different, the mounting points are a bit more dampened. The dampening can give on one side, but not on the other, explaining why when you pull on the cable from the inside you feel no difference.

I would get the air intake duct out of the way, remove the main cable out of its pin on the transmission and hold it with my hand or a screw driver. Meanwhile, have somebody slowly shift from 3rd to 4th and see if the cable mounting point is holding the main cable correctly.

Hope this can help.

vainot4u · 05-25-2010, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barzook

I know you said nothing was broken at cable ends, but my guess would be that your problem in at the transmission side cable mounting points. Inside the car there're pretty sturdy and if they break, nothing would work at all, but outside is different, the mounting points are a bit more dampened. The dampening can give on one side, but not on the other, explaining why when you pull on the cable from the inside you feel no difference.

I would get the air intake duct out of the way, remove the main cable out of its pin on the transmission and hold it with my hand or a screw driver. Meanwhile, have somebody slowly shift from 3rd to 4th and see if the cable mounting point is holding the main cable correctly.

Hope this can help.

I did remove the intake and remove the cable from the shifter side (not the selector side) that was where I moved the cable back and forth with ease...in other words I was moving the shifter from 3rd to 4th and visa-versa from the engine bay. I also pulled back the rubber boot and checked the guide tube to make sure it was in tact (as I understand those like to break and cause this issue?)...I don't readily have a second person to help me with this other wise I may have seen how much slack was in the cable before movement occurred at one end or the other...this is perplexing as hell.

I would just replace the darn cable if the part wasn't so expensive (and probably a pain to install). I priced it out a Majestic Honda and it was $262.94! Not including the other parts I should replace at the same time...

Honda Automotive Parts

I cant really see what else could be the issue really...I suppose something inside the transmission could be bad but I honestly don't know how...not really a big tranny guy, I understand general principle but that's about it. Whats funny is the car drives fine, shifts into gear but feels mushy...it's really annoying...LOL

Thanks for the help anyhow...

vainot4u · 05-26-2010, 03:14 PM

Anyone?? Ideas are very welcome??

I may go to the junk yard tomorrow and see if I can get a shifter cable. I REALLY don't want to do this job, but I may have no choice. If that doesn't fix it then I know it has to be internal right? Then I'm probably talking big bucks...at that point it may be time for me to buy the M2B4 I've been thinking about...

barzook · 05-26-2010, 06:31 PM

I really don't think it's internal, if you tried shifting with the transmission arm and you did not feel this mooshy feeling, I'm sure it's your cable mounting point just before the tranny. The bushing on the cable may be fine (they rarely fail), but I still think it's the static mounting point just before the cable bushing, on the main cable.

Either way, I think you need the shifter cables.

Look it up here, there are a few yards with "Floor shift assembly" I'm sure some of them have the cables too.

Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

vainot4u · 05-26-2010, 07:17 PM

Thanks man! I appreciate all the help...

After playing with it some more tonight I've decided that this is beyond me for now, so I am going to take it to good buddies mechanic tomorrow and see what they come up with...if they can fit me in...

I jacked the car up on stands tonight and looked at the job to replace the cables and it looks like it requires dropping the exhaust to get under the heat shield to get to the 2 bolts that hold the cables in the firewall...urgh!... the rest of the job wouldn't be too bad, there are a few really tight spots...but I think I could figure it out...still that plus the exhaust is enough for me to let someone else do it...

I did notice that the cable is over extending, I had my neighbor come over and help me I removed the cable from the knuckle and had him push the shifter forward all the way, the cable was aprox a 1/8" longer than where the knuckle was at in third... in other words shifter lever was in third, knuckle was in third, disconnected from one another the cable was longer by 1/8"...Also with the cable disconnected I moved the shift knuckle with my hand from 3rd to N to 4th and it felt perfect so I KNOW it's not the internals of the tranny...WHEW!...

What I am hoping for is that this mechanic of my buddies can find a way to work with what I have, I REALLY don't want to buy that part...but will if I need to...IF I do buy the part, I am fabricating some polyurethane bushings, I'm sick of the crap shifts in my Prelude....if LEAN Racing wasn't evidently out of business I'd buy their bushings...