My 2002 base MC has 160K on it. It is a 5 speed midlands manual transmission. I am the second owner and the first was totally AR and dealer loyal with a stack of receipts to prove every service part down to light bulbs.

Last week my shifter suddenly got real loose. I limped it home and found that a clip had fallen off the shifter at the transmission end. It caused a triangular plastic block to walk off the shaft on which it pivoted and in the process a small plastic bushing was lost.

I bought a makeshift bushing and clip and put it back together. The shifter worked OK but seemed a little sloppy. Upon further investigation it appeared that there was something else missing like a plastic block that would go over the ball end of the triangular piece where it fits in the shift arm.

Looking at parts diagrams and talking to dealers on the phone has proved to be useless. Parts diagrams show exploded views of the shifter parts and also list the shifter complete with cables as one part number, however there is no stock anywhere.

Has anyone else had this happen and what did you do to fix it?