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Gear shift loose on column

7K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  r0ckstarr 
#1 ·
95 Mercury Villager, AT. The gear shift lever was been sloppy for a while. Now it won't go to the park setting. I start the car in neutral and use the parking brake when I park. How tough to adjust? I assume the steering wheel has to come off to repair/replace the shift linkage. Transmission is fine. I still have park, just can't select it.
 
#2 ·
not sure all the bells and whistles that van has. If you can live with it I would do nothing. Since your have posted I assume you at least want an idea. Probably have 150 dollars into a used steering column and having a key made for it. You may get lucky and find a column with the key. Might not be hard to just repair the linkage, many later model cars I just swap columns. Is your neutral safety switch maybe bad, they are around 50 bucks?
 
#4 ·
I don't drive automatics, but wanted to be helpful. I found this through a google search. By any chance, is it you?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/1995_merc...ectly_-_is_ploblem_located_in_steering_column

1995 mercury villager van - shifter on column is loose - will not move into park - all other gears works good - transmission shifts correctly - is ploblem located in steering column?
Answer

Yes !! There are bushings at the lever pivot and the shift collar. These should be checked and replaced at the dealer or a competent repair shop.


Lay on the floor with your head by the brake and accelerator pedals. With a flashlight, locate the end of the steering shaft with the universal joint and the disc with the holes around its edge. Just above this you will see a plate (it's gold anodized on my car) with two Torx bolts holding it to a shaft. Wiggle the shift lever and you will see it move. Those Torx bolts are loose! With a size T-30 Torx bit, preferably a socket tool and ratchet, take one the rest of the way out, apply a little Loctite to its threads, and re-install the bolt and tighten it up. Do the same with the other bolt. You may have to move the shift lever to different positions to get to the Torx bolt heads easily. Make sure parking brake is set! If you have messed with the cable adjustment at the transmission in your earlier attempts to fix this problem, you might have to recheck this adjustment again.

And this:

http://www.justanswer.com/car/07owz-1993-mercury-villager-ls-think.html

Customer Question

I have a 1993 Mercury Villager LS and it I think it is having a transmission problem. The problem lies with the shifter. It has problems going into park and reverse. You have to manipulate the shifter to go into reverse as it doesn't catch all the time. It also doesn't go into park sometimes. Could you possibly tell me what is wrong?
If you look under the dashat the steering column. Look for the place where the shifter bolts fast move the shifter around if you need to. Once you see where it meets the column you will see two screws that hold the shifter/cable to the column those bolts come loose. One of them may even be missing. They are a torx headed bolt I think a t30 in size. Tighten them up and you will be ready to go.
If the shift tube bushing is bad, Rock Auto has it for less than $3.00.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the links! Not my posts, but perfectly describes my problem. I know where to look now! Usually, when faced with a problem I have never had, I'll go to pull a part to rip up one of their Junkers before working on mine.
 
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