C6 - You may need to carry a jack but not for tires, Auto Trans Shift Cable Failure
Should you carry a jack in your C6(or later), even with Runflats?
The other day was my wife's birthday. We decided to take the 1+ hour drive along the Florida East Coast Rte A1A in my 2007 Automatic Transmission Coupe to get takeouts from our favorite Italian restaurant, return home, and have a nice celebration dinner at home.
Well, timing was off and the C6 Corvette Shifter Cable Satan got me at the wrong time. 5 minutes away from our destination, but thankfully over a hour before our scheduled pickup time, I decided to stop at a gas station to get some bottled water. We were going to go further south for a continued half hour cruise along the Intracoastal waterway after crossing back over to the mainland, then turn around and back north to pickup the food.
I Pulled in the gas station parking spot and put it in reverse to get better alignment. When I put it back in Drive...... nothing. Shifter was flopping loose. I was stuck in Reverse!
After a few expletives I settled down and set the E-Brake. I was not going to allow this situation ruin her day. I know how to fix this as I had the same "stuck in gear" problem a few years earlier and had the repair knowledge. Either the Shifter end or the trans end cable was disconnected. I wasn't sure at this point. I dared not shut the engine off. If I did, since not in Park or Neutral, I knew it would not allow restart and would be stuck where it sat, in the hot sun.
I decided to back up back onto A1A, guided by a landscape guy who was there working the grounds, and I did a loop back into the lot and put it in a spot that had shade. It was 90* and humid out. I set the E-Brake and got out. Here you can see the reverse lamps still lit up, and if it let go, a big barrier to stop it from moving as safety insurance.
I had a plan, using my jack to change gears. I carry this jack, a breaker bar and lugnut socket, a tire repair kit and a 12V air compressor and a can of flat-fix. My tires are not run-flats. Little did I know the jack would come in handy for another purpose. I would have to get under the car to manually shift the car into Drive to get back on the road. I went to open the trunk via the dash button and button above the rear license plate to get my jack and tools, but since in Reverse, it wouldn't open, only allowed in Park. I used my key to open the trunk at the key slot above the license plate and got my needed items. If I didn't have a key I'd have had to crawl in from the cabin and hand her the items.
I had safety in mind as a priority. I told her I was going to jack it up so I started looking around for wheel chocks and safety stands/blocks to put under the car. She noticed a group of broken concrete curbing nearby so I grabbed several large pieces. I put one in front of the front tire. I took my electric jack and placed it under the rear jackpoint where the puck normally resides. Ran it up high enough and put another block under the rear diff framework as a safety stand.
Now....... I then shut the engine off and planned to shift to Neutral for a subsequent restart. But "Shift to Park" on the DIC cannot be done so car is still powered with engine off. It gets its signal from the transmission AND the shifter. BTW, there is no automatic power-off timeout in this scenario. The battery will go dead if left this way for a long while, as I found out years ago when the shifter jammed in Drive due to a faulty shifter Brake pedal interlock pawl fault. At least when that happened the car was drivable to get home. I thought it would auto-off then, but it didn't.
Checking the jack and my borrowed safety blocks were all good, I got under the car and saw the culprit. The cable bushing to the transmission lever pivot ball had disintegrated and was gone. With my long breaker bar I gave the lever one "click" forward to put it in neutral. When facing the lever, far right is Park, then one click forward is Reverse, then Neutral, Drive, Sport for each detent click.
Here is the trans shift lever area above the left exhaust pipe. You can see the end of the cable between the left pipe and left fuel tank support shield.(photo taken later on lift for better view)
Here is the lever and cable end. There should be a bushing in the open end, attached to the pivot ball.
I got out from under the car. Now with her on the brake pedal and ebrake still set, she started the engine, now in Neutral. I then took my long breaker bar and from the rear of the car I reached under and located the lever. I gave it a light push one click forward. Now it was in Drive. She stayed put while I lowered the jack, put everything back in the trunk. She then let her foot of foot brake, car still stayed put with ebrake, then she got out. I got in, she got in on the other side, I released the ebrake, and we drove off.
We made it over to pickup the food right on time. She got in Driver side and foot at brake pedal while I got the food but had to key open the trunk again, then we seat swapped again and took the hour drive back home without incident, albeit stuck in Drive, hoping no need for reverse. At home we unloaded the food and I drove into the garage properly positioned for the lift rise the next morning. I shut the engine, disconnected the battery Negative terminal and went into the house.
We had a nice dinner to celebrate her birthday, while reviewing the entire escapade of our "nice" getawaydrive along the coast.
The next morning I raised the car on the lift and replaced the cable bushing.
All fixed. I used a 2x4 between the shield and pipe to open the area as it's pretty tight in there to work. I set the shifter and trans in Park to give the closest proximity for repair. The bushing attaches to the pivot lever ball stud first, rounded end out, then the plastic cable open end snaps over the bushing locking both in place. I used a bit of silicone grease on the inside and outside of the bushing to make it easier to snap them together over the ball stud. A pair of wide flat pliers and a small piece of thin wood against the plastic cable end side was used to protect the end.
0917201042_Burst01_resized.jpg
0917201043_resized.jpg
Note the orientation of the cable end and orientation of the bushing with the small rounded end facing away from the lever.
0917201047_Burst01_resized.jpg
Here are 2 kits I had. I got these as spares several years ago when I had the shifter bushing problem(Link HERE). The Napa kit comes with 2 for the Corvette application. The Dorman kit only includes 1 for the Corvette application, shown at the bottom corners of each package in the photo below. Both kits have extra pieces for other makes/models.
0917201007_Burst01_resized.jpg
I'm thinking of adding two "safety" wires to the trans lever pivot end and tie them up under the car at hands reach for future cable fault "incidents".
This would cover a fault at either end of the cable.
Rich
PS Unsure if the Manual trans cars use a similar cable bushing arrangement. If so, those apply here too.
The other day was my wife's birthday. We decided to take the 1+ hour drive along the Florida East Coast Rte A1A in my 2007 Automatic Transmission Coupe to get takeouts from our favorite Italian restaurant, return home, and have a nice celebration dinner at home.
Well, timing was off and the C6 Corvette Shifter Cable Satan got me at the wrong time. 5 minutes away from our destination, but thankfully over a hour before our scheduled pickup time, I decided to stop at a gas station to get some bottled water. We were going to go further south for a continued half hour cruise along the Intracoastal waterway after crossing back over to the mainland, then turn around and back north to pickup the food.
I Pulled in the gas station parking spot and put it in reverse to get better alignment. When I put it back in Drive...... nothing. Shifter was flopping loose. I was stuck in Reverse!
After a few expletives I settled down and set the E-Brake. I was not going to allow this situation ruin her day. I know how to fix this as I had the same "stuck in gear" problem a few years earlier and had the repair knowledge. Either the Shifter end or the trans end cable was disconnected. I wasn't sure at this point. I dared not shut the engine off. If I did, since not in Park or Neutral, I knew it would not allow restart and would be stuck where it sat, in the hot sun.
I decided to back up back onto A1A, guided by a landscape guy who was there working the grounds, and I did a loop back into the lot and put it in a spot that had shade. It was 90* and humid out. I set the E-Brake and got out. Here you can see the reverse lamps still lit up, and if it let go, a big barrier to stop it from moving as safety insurance.
I had a plan, using my jack to change gears. I carry this jack, a breaker bar and lugnut socket, a tire repair kit and a 12V air compressor and a can of flat-fix. My tires are not run-flats. Little did I know the jack would come in handy for another purpose. I would have to get under the car to manually shift the car into Drive to get back on the road. I went to open the trunk via the dash button and button above the rear license plate to get my jack and tools, but since in Reverse, it wouldn't open, only allowed in Park. I used my key to open the trunk at the key slot above the license plate and got my needed items. If I didn't have a key I'd have had to crawl in from the cabin and hand her the items.
I had safety in mind as a priority. I told her I was going to jack it up so I started looking around for wheel chocks and safety stands/blocks to put under the car. She noticed a group of broken concrete curbing nearby so I grabbed several large pieces. I put one in front of the front tire. I took my electric jack and placed it under the rear jackpoint where the puck normally resides. Ran it up high enough and put another block under the rear diff framework as a safety stand.
Now....... I then shut the engine off and planned to shift to Neutral for a subsequent restart. But "Shift to Park" on the DIC cannot be done so car is still powered with engine off. It gets its signal from the transmission AND the shifter. BTW, there is no automatic power-off timeout in this scenario. The battery will go dead if left this way for a long while, as I found out years ago when the shifter jammed in Drive due to a faulty shifter Brake pedal interlock pawl fault. At least when that happened the car was drivable to get home. I thought it would auto-off then, but it didn't.
Checking the jack and my borrowed safety blocks were all good, I got under the car and saw the culprit. The cable bushing to the transmission lever pivot ball had disintegrated and was gone. With my long breaker bar I gave the lever one "click" forward to put it in neutral. When facing the lever, far right is Park, then one click forward is Reverse, then Neutral, Drive, Sport for each detent click.
Here is the trans shift lever area above the left exhaust pipe. You can see the end of the cable between the left pipe and left fuel tank support shield.(photo taken later on lift for better view)
Here is the lever and cable end. There should be a bushing in the open end, attached to the pivot ball.
I got out from under the car. Now with her on the brake pedal and ebrake still set, she started the engine, now in Neutral. I then took my long breaker bar and from the rear of the car I reached under and located the lever. I gave it a light push one click forward. Now it was in Drive. She stayed put while I lowered the jack, put everything back in the trunk. She then let her foot of foot brake, car still stayed put with ebrake, then she got out. I got in, she got in on the other side, I released the ebrake, and we drove off.
We made it over to pickup the food right on time. She got in Driver side and foot at brake pedal while I got the food but had to key open the trunk again, then we seat swapped again and took the hour drive back home without incident, albeit stuck in Drive, hoping no need for reverse. At home we unloaded the food and I drove into the garage properly positioned for the lift rise the next morning. I shut the engine, disconnected the battery Negative terminal and went into the house.
We had a nice dinner to celebrate her birthday, while reviewing the entire escapade of our "nice" getawaydrive along the coast.
The next morning I raised the car on the lift and replaced the cable bushing.
All fixed. I used a 2x4 between the shield and pipe to open the area as it's pretty tight in there to work. I set the shifter and trans in Park to give the closest proximity for repair. The bushing attaches to the pivot lever ball stud first, rounded end out, then the plastic cable open end snaps over the bushing locking both in place. I used a bit of silicone grease on the inside and outside of the bushing to make it easier to snap them together over the ball stud. A pair of wide flat pliers and a small piece of thin wood against the plastic cable end side was used to protect the end.
0917201042_Burst01_resized.jpg
0917201043_resized.jpg
Note the orientation of the cable end and orientation of the bushing with the small rounded end facing away from the lever.
0917201047_Burst01_resized.jpg
Here are 2 kits I had. I got these as spares several years ago when I had the shifter bushing problem(Link HERE). The Napa kit comes with 2 for the Corvette application. The Dorman kit only includes 1 for the Corvette application, shown at the bottom corners of each package in the photo below. Both kits have extra pieces for other makes/models.
0917201007_Burst01_resized.jpg
I'm thinking of adding two "safety" wires to the trans lever pivot end and tie them up under the car at hands reach for future cable fault "incidents".
This would cover a fault at either end of the cable.Rich
PS Unsure if the Manual trans cars use a similar cable bushing arrangement. If so, those apply here too.
Last edited by Richard Mozzetta (13499); Today at 08:54 AM.
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