26th Jul 2008, 10:16
My Saturn SL1--same deal as the rest of you. Exiting the freeway, pulled from 5th to 4th...shifter went limp. Stuck in 5th gear.
I didn't have the luxury of waiting a week for a bushing kit from E-bay so, I found my solution for the shifter cable bushing at my local NAPA store. For a mere $20, you can buy the darn thing from their store stock. Easy to install. Took only 15 minutes in a parking lot. A phillips screwdriver was all I needed to remove the console and the rest was easily detailed in the included instructions that came with the busing. NAPA part # BK 6201411. $20 and my problem was solved. Thanks...
6th Aug 2008, 11:39
I just left the Saturn dealer with the bad news that a $5.00 part is not the fix... I went on-line and found your site, my fingers are crossed the part I ordered on E-Bay will work.
Tim- Baltimore.
13th Aug 2008, 09:23
I received the bushing in the mail 3 days after ordering it. I used a C- clamp to gently press the bushing and the ball joint together. It looks good and worked on a short drive. Your web site just saved me at least $400.00 dollars!!! I thank you 400 times.
Tim-Baltimore.
2nd Sep 2008, 20:21
Same story here. Left the interstate and realized I couldn't get the car out of 1st. Had to have it towed home so I could take it apart and find the broken part. You ladies and gents saved me a lot of $$, time and heartache. Thank you much!
4th Sep 2008, 20:48
Just so you all know, it's not always that bushing. If you don't look under the hood at the linkage at the transmission, you might miss a broken cable. My brother thought replacing a 5 dollar part would fix it.. and he did not even bother looking at what was really wrong.
I have also seen on here that the dealers have refused to give or show old parts. Not presenting you the parts to at least look at is technically illegal, and you could contact B.A.R. to take care of this.
Yes they will probably say they need it back because of a core charge, but they still must at least show you the old part so you know they replaced the WHOLE part, and not just that little piece. Many companies have done that type of shady work; that hurts even the techs that are honest.
13th Oct 2008, 07:08
Quite funny this whole topic. Just happened to me as well on my 95 Saturn. Just had turned on to the main road and I could feel it lose connection. Moving it around, it popped back into place, enough for me to keep moving. Went to shift again, it popped out. Was able to pull into a parking lot, pulled the center console out and could see very easily the problem, that little plastic bushing had broken and fallen off.
No usually I have a ton of little odds and ends in my car, but I had cleanup it out throughly a week or two before. The only thing I had was my daughter's hair tie; wrapped it up, and traveled the 25 miles home, and have still days later done anything else. Drove it to work today with no problem.
I will probably go for a more permanent fix soon, but I don't see myself buying the $20 bushing, which we all know is flawed. I kinda like the guy's idea of drilling a hole and fixing screw and washer.
I also have a little C-Clamp, that might work out well. Basically all you really need to do, is apply something to keep the ball from popping out, while still giving the joint a little room to move.
13th Oct 2008, 09:27
I would like to say THANKS! My son a "new" driver (about a year now) of 17 just had an accident when backing out of my driveway. He could not figure out what happened when his 93 Saturn would not come out of reverse. Fortunately no one was hurt and it was my 83 GMC truck that he hit. My truck door will not open now but I know have a less expensive fix for the shifter bushing that broke. The Saturn is in good shape body wise since he hit the truck with the back corner of the car. It does anger me a bit that Saturn would put such a cheap part in such a crucial place.
23rd Oct 2008, 21:12
Just saved another noob! Thanks, my freaking mechanic wanted to charge me 400 bucks for a freaking cable. I was like absolutely not, this can't be a freaking cable, so I researched online and found this, and certainly enough when I took out the center console, found the freaking thing broken. Thanks a lot guys, really appreciate having this up! BTW I have a 98 Saturn SC2 127k miles.
20th Jan 2009, 19:17
Aight. Had the same issue. In the driveway, trying to go from 1st to R, and it went sloppy. Contacted dad and he said it could be linkage.. research lead to the cables. He is a mechanic of 40+ years and said that they do not carry cable in his parts store. Looking further found this site. HOPE yall are right.
BTW, 1998 saturn SL with 165000 on it. This is the first "Freak out" it has had.
I will get back in a few to see what the scoop is.
20th Jan 2009, 20:45
OK... you guys rock. I opened up the console... there lies the piece of plastic. Autozone does not carry that.. so I am reduced to going to Never Any Parts Available... where they will probably have to order that. Eh such is life. Thanks for saving the hassle of getting her to the garage.
11th Feb 2009, 17:59
Awesome. I was devastated to find out that it was going to be 400 dollars to fix this problem. I just couldn't afford that. But this 20 dollar part fixed it perfectly. Thanks!
30th Mar 2009, 17:58
I have the same problem with my Saturn SC2. All of a sudden my gear shift seems like it's not hooked to anything. It moves around freely without catching anywhere. The car is in second gear (I think) because I was able to drive it home when this happened, and it was only about 100 yards.
I am trying to take the middle console out, but can't figure our how to, other than take the harness for the radio, and the heat/air harness thing out. Which, I can't figure out how to do.
Is there an easier way to take out the console to see if the little part is broken?
If you try and lift from front to back, then it won't go due to the heat/air thing in the way. Seems you should be able to lift it from the back end?
Any advice please... I need some help.
Thanks,
Michelle.
19th Jul 2008, 19:35
I had this problem with the shift cable bushing as well. I followed the directions of the poster above me, and used NAPA part 620-1411. It worked! This saved me ~$400.