I recently had my clubbie in the dealership to have the thermostat housing swapped under the extended warranty. They didn't get the car back to me after finishing it saying that the they had difficulty shifting on the test drive.

I told them that I had issue prior and they took care of it without argument. Turns out that it was a bent bracket on the shifter cable. After getting it back, I noticed that there was much more side to side play in the shift lever, whether in gear or in neutral. I thought I would drive it for a bit and see if it caused me any issues before taking it back to the dealer.

My wife drove it while I was out of town and when I got back, she complained about it. I can feel where the play could cause an issue of skipping a gear. I set up an appointment for the dealership to look at it tomorrow.

I looked at the Bentley manual to see if I could figure out what may be the issue, but it wasn't apparent to me. My question is, is this something that can be easily straightened out or is one of those things that would be hard to dial back in and create other issues?

Any idea why replacing the cable bracket would cause this?

Thanks for the input.

 

I think you should pop the hood and take a look at the cable and bracket. Who knows, they might've used an automatic shifter bracket verses a manual transmission bracket.

or, the clip that holds it got loose.

 

So, I get a message from the SA that it would be $720 to fix the bushing that was broken on the shifter housing. i called back and was told that this is a plastic bushing that wears over time and it gave out causing the sloppiness. I said that it was fine before taking it in and after getting it back, it had excess sloppiness. I was told that they try to take care of the customers and they replaced the shift cable bracket when they realized it was not shifting correctly in good will. I repeated it was fine before they worked it and after i got it back, it was not. The SA said she would have the shop manager call me to explain what he had seen since he was more technical.

The shop manager said he didn't see any evidence that it was something they did and that it was a random happening that the bushing gave while they while they were working on it. I said that I wan't convinced since it was fine before bringing it in and now there is excess sloppiness. I told him that it seems what happened was something happened with the bracket that caused difficult shifting when they test drove it and that difficulty must have caused the bushing damage. He agreed with that, but still insisted that what happened with the bracket to cause the bushing damage was just a random occurrence or due to wear over time and passed me back to the SA.

I restated my disbelief of the "random occurrence" theory and went back and forth for while before the SA said that it is a part that wears and that I had a responsibility for wear, but they try to take care of there customers and would help out with the cost. I asked what that would be and was told that they would pick up half of the cost.

I told the SA that I would think about it and let them know tomorrow.

My belief is that they did something to the shifter bracket that caused the damage to the bushing and resulting sloppiness. I am not sure whether arguing this further will get me anywhere.

Is their assertion that it was a random occurrence plausible? Is it possible that I could have ended up with a couple inches of side to side sloppiness overnight given that I am a fairly gentle shifter?

 

I did a bit more studying of the parts in question in the Bentley manual last night. Their assertion that the bushing is a wear item is wrong. It is a cable that runs through a sheath that links the shifter to the transmission (Bowden cable). From the pictures in the manual, the outer sheath is what attaches to the shifter housing and it is the inner cable that moves and wouldn't affect the bushing.


What I really couldn't determine from the manual or online pictures is the sturdiness of the shift cable bracket on the transmission. Unfortunately, I don't have the car to look at it myself. How sturdy is the cable attachment to the bracket? Is there any real chance for the cable to work itself free from the bracket over time or for the bracket get distorted from daily driving?


As a bit more context to this, I am not a rough driver in any respect. I am gentle during shifting, I don't track the car and most of my drive is highway. They haven't gone done the road of blaming my driving style, but I will cut that line of argument off quickly.

 

Same problem on gen 1s.. the bushing that breaks is on the side stalk of the shifter. It has no part number so they make you buy and entire assembly