Ok guys, I'm new here but not to my Volvo 850 (see sig for specs), and I need a bit of help.

Here's the deal, long story short, some tire-changing guys at Sam's club broke my shifter and they paid to have it replaced at the dealer. So the dealer replaced it, and it works fine except it does one funny thing now. You see, it shifts and functions absolutely fine, but it just seems to have a loose "dead zone", kind of like what happens to old joysticks on video games. In neutral, it wobbles freely for about 2 inches back and forth until it hits what seems to be the normal return springs on either side. So, as I am sure you guys are familiar with, in neutral in a normal shifter you can move the stick back and forth but it always snaps back to the center when you let go. My shifter does this to a degree if you push it all the way to one side, but instead it snaps back into this "dead zone". Another thing to note is that in ALL of the gears it also can wobble side to side exactly the same amount as the "dead zone" in the neutral position. Also this looseness seems to make a clunk sound when shifting 2nd to 3rd sometimes. IDK what is going on!

You see, before my old shifter broke and got replaced, it never did this. It was secure like it should be, but I get the sense our genius dealer screwed up the repair slightly and left something loose. That's where you guys come in: How can I fix this annoyance?

It is worth noting, though, that this does just seem to be an annoyance, not a serious issue. It's been like this a couple of months, but it's starting to drive me nuts!

Good Volvo people, please help me!

Thanks in advance!

1995Volvo850

P.S. If you guys still don't get what I am saying, I will try to get a video uploaded to demonstrate.

 

Hi and welcome to the site.

So your shifter has a little play in it, even when in gears?

 

Yes, Abnromal play both in neutral and in gear.

 

At least, I assume it's abnormal!

 

There are several points along the way that can have slack in them. I will point them out.

1. The entire shifter base is on bushings and can move
2. The main ball joint can move
3. The right and left pivot points where the cables connect can move
4. The Cable mount on the transmission can move
5. The cables attached to the shift arms has bushings and can move.

Add a little movement at each point and you end up with a loose shifter.

What you need to do is look at all these points while moving the shifter back and forth to see where its happening.

The main culprit for a loose shifter is the rubber bushings where the cables attach to the transmission. This is a very easy fix as you can replace the rubber bushings with brass bushings from a Toyota MR2.

TOYOTA BRASS SHIFTER CABLE BUSHINGS mr2 tercel celica | eBay

 

Thanks for the response!

Now, how do I check those parts, and which one is most likely the culprit being incorrectly installed by the dealer?

Also, am I hurting anything by driving it with a lot of play?

Thanks again!