Voyager 1999 shifting arm gets stuck

Hi to all on this board.

I have a 1999 Voyager with a very weird problem. The car runs well and
the automatic transmission works fine. No that's not the problem. Ha
Ha Ha.

The problems is when I drive the car for an extended period of time
and then put the shifter in park, the shifter is very hard to move
through the different park to drive positions. If I let the car sit
for a little while, the shifter works fine again.

It's as though the shifter is rubbing like metal to metal, but only if
the car is driven for a while. This is getting to be quite a worry
because of the type of work I do, I am some time driving for hours and
I could wind up stuck in the boondocks without a shifter.

But all during this time, the automatic tranny is shifting well and
has never given any sence of any other problems.

I'd appreciate any input from some knowledgeable people here before I
bring it into a garage for a check up.

 

Please clarify: Are you saying that once you've parked the car it is
difficult to get the shifter to move out of Park, but once you do get it
out of Park it moves freely? Or are you saying that it is equally
difficult to move from Park to Reverse as it is to move from Reverse to
Neutral and Neutral to Drive?

If it's the first (hard to get it out of park) the overwhelmingly most
likely explanation is that you are not using the parking brake or not
using it properly (it needs to be applied BEFORE you shift into Park, and
released AFTER you shift out of Park.)

-Stern

 

Thanks for your reply Dan.

Once the car has been driven for a while, it is equally difficult to
get the shifter to move from drive to any other position and back. The
shifter is movement, regardlees of which direction, is very hard, like
metal on metal rubbing. And the brake pedal is always pushed as usual
before attempting any shift. Plus when it finally gets into park,
removing the key is difficult and I have to repeat the shifting a few
times before the key can be removed.

I don't think this is a tranny problem since the tranny is shifting
well.

Thanks again.

===============================================================================

 

Linkage/cable problem. You're missing one or more bushings or the cable
needs replacement.

-Stern

 

I had a similar problem when I purchased my 98 Grand Voyager last year and
it was solved by lubricating the shift mechanism. Mine was on the column,
and I should have thought to disconnect the battery first, since the spray
lubricant I used shorted and drained the battery over several hours, but
after that was taken care of the linkage has been perfect ever since.

 

Thanks you guys.

Following your leads, I managed to get to my shifter and removed the
cable to see i the shifter itself was hard. Worked fine. I then
removed the cable connection on the tranny and moved the cable in and
out to see how it was. The cable was definitely exhibiting roughness
that resembled the hard shifting movement.

I replaced the cable and things are now back to normal. Thanks again.