Stuck in First Gear. Shift Cable? Help

Hey Guys, Ok, so I was driving to lunch today when my car got stuck in first gear at a stop light. I was going through the gears getting ready to put the car in first and take off when I noticed the shifter get real loose on me. I accelerated in first but noticed that the shifter cable went limp and I was unable to shift into second gear. After pulling over and removing the shift console I could tell that the shift cable had lost it's tension. Question is did I snap or break the shift linkage from the transmission? Has this happened to anyone before? Does anyone have diagram of the shift linkage/transmission assembly? My shifter will not do anything and all the cables are connected correctly inside of the car. Please help with any suggestions. Thanks, Nick

Possible linkage failure, 15$ part from porsche. You gotta remove the console( can't really see the full extent thru the shift boot hole), check out the ssk diy pics, if all that is ok, crawl under tha car and check the tranny side connection(unlikely). The money is on the shift link, seen several fail, I carry a spare.

The shift linkage inside the car is all ok as I just installed a shoft shifter about 6 months ago and I know what to look for. Feels like it is not connected at the transmission end. I will get her home tonight and crawl underneath to verify. What am I looking for on the transmission? Do I just follow the cable backwards? Thanks, Nick

Sounds like a cable slipped out of the shifter. Seen several do that if not installed properly (including my EVO unit. As stated above, you cannot see the entire unit and cables unless you remove the console. What kinds of SSK did you install. You can see the linkage on the tranny by removing the center back under panel and it is on the passenger side of tranny. I have never seen these connections come off unless tampered with.

Yup. There will be two levers connected to each of the cables, one higher than the other. The first/second gear is the lower. Given what you described happened to you, you may simply have dislodged the connection between the cable and the tranny lever. It's a simple snap-on ball-to-socket mount. So how as it, drivng home on first gear ?

I agree with above that either the shift linkage broke or the cable slipped out of the linkage. The latter happened to me about a week after installing my B&M and EVOMS Shift Linkage. The 3 set screws that attach the EVO shift linkage to the cable need to be very tight. So tight, they the dent all the way through the threads on the plastic guide around the cable. If they don't seat all the way through the threads to the solid part of the plasic, it will slip off over time. It happened to me in the middle of an intersection 1-black from the house. I just ran (literally) back to the house and brought back the wrenches to disassemble and fix. I've had not problems since the first incident.

I took the shift console completely apart last night and the two cables are still connected perfectly. The SSK is a B&M shifter. All cables are still connected, so I am thinking it must be the connection to the tranny. The cable on the right has no tension and doesn't feel like is connected to anything on the other end. The shifter moves forward and back with no tension. Didn't get a chance to jack the car up and look underneath yet, so I will do that tonight. I suppose it's possible that I had the cables tensioned too tightly and it snapped the cable/tranny connection on a hard sift. Does anyone know how the cables are connected to the tranny? What am I looking for before I jack the car up and get under there? Re: Driving home in first gear. Well I drove it about a mile, before all the cars started honking at me because I was driving too slow. Called the insurance company and got it on a flatebed to take home. I could at least drive it forward and park in the garage. Not a total loss I guess.

I believe it's a single cable that runs into the tranny, approximately even with the rear wheels depth wise. You will need to remove your rear underbody tray to see it. I know because I'm missing my tray and have a good look at all of those cables whenever I'm under there.

Check my previous post on this thread, Nick. The connection will be there in plain sight. Could have saved you the trouble of dismantling your center console .

Update: Got underneath the car tonight and popped off the cable attachment from tranny and realized that the cable had completely snapped in half about 5 inches back under the sheathing. Not sure how this could have happened. I guess it's possible that when I installed the B&M shifter several months back I had aligned the cables improperly and thus created too much tension on the cable. Or its a really crappy cable and my new shifter is putting too much pressure on it. Well, at least its a somewhat inexpensive part. Question is how do I run the new cable back up through the interior and align the shifter properly so this doesn't happen again? Let me know your thoughts. Nick

Nick, Just to put you a little at ease, no installing the B&M would not in any way cause the cable to snap like that. If you didn't have the shifterinstalled correctly (off on the wrong threads front to back), then you would have problems shifting forward or back. It was simply mis-manufaturered or there is someplace it is rubbing. I would recomend making sure all the cable guides are in place.

I realize this is an old resolved thread. Just updating some info for the next guy that searches this problem. Most appropriate thread to continue on. Didn't see point in starting a new thread: A month ago my 2,4,6th gears weren't working at all. Top gears were fine. The bottom gears felt like the shift linkage was broke. Got it home and the rear shift cable had come loose from the tranny. Put zip tie around it for extra security. This past weekend, the R,1,3,5th gears went out. Just as before. Plastic rear shift cable clips. Would feel more confident by putting new clips on. Called dealer. They have new clips for $3 a piece(as of April 27th, 2009). Had to order them. Part #98642441100 I'm a little leary of all the plastic/composite components that are involved with the shift linkage as a whole. Think I'm gonna get B&M ssk, with aluminum bracket in due time. Seems more durable. Porsche Motorsport cables I think may be too much $ for a non-racer. Haven't checked. I hope this helps the next guy. I tried to use as many "key words" as I could think of, as far as a search would go...