1997 Sunfire SE convertible, 2.4 5-speed manual.

Leaving work yesterday, took off in first no problem, shifted to second and GRIND-central. CRAP! At first, thought 2nd gear went out. Took off again, same thing, threw it into 3rd and was fine. Rest of the way home, all gears worked okay except 2nd was just not there.

Today, removed the console to look at the shifter, also check out the linkage, both appeared normal. Manually put the car in 2nd at the tranny and it worked fine without any noises. Next thing I know, no longer does pulling back on the shifter do anything.

Here's what I found:


The casing pulled out of the crimp, not able to get it back in. Looks like new cables are in order.

So, does anyone know the GM part number for the shifter cable assembly? Any aftermarket companies make one or places online that sell them? Google hasn't been much help, also didn't find anything using the search feature here.

BTW... her's the car:

Funny,,, ny car did the similar thing today.. went to shift from 1st into second, no go, so threw it into 3rd, tried 5th, nothing.. so drove home in 3rd on the highway with my 4-ways on... got to a light.... can't get it out of third, so I had to ride the clutch and start off in third. I am assuming the clutch cable as well, cause even though it is in a gear (with the car off) the s hifter moves up and down freely, and not side to side (since its in a gear, it won't move I'm assuming) Called Part Source, they say its a dealer item

I figured it's a dealer item, but usually www.rockauto.com carries a lot of GM part, same with a few other resources I have at work. I was hoping someone may have had theirs replaced and have the part number on their invoice.

I'm hoping it isn't discontinued already.

TJ

hmmm... well according to my reading skills, the end of this design was 1999, and I believe manufacturers have to make or have parts in stock for vehicles 8 years and younger... so judging by that, they should have some in stock, or able to get some from another dealer. For myself, the car is 12/13 years old anyway, I can't justify, or afford 150-200 bucks for cables. I'm going to get some used ones.

By the way, I took my cables out and same thing happened with mine, the casing came loose from the crimp. How the hell does that happen?? UGH!!! I wish I knew a way to make that union stronger before putting the replacements in. Maybe epoxy? Anyone have any ideas?

Got it all fixed. Went to the wreckers and took out a pair of cables myself, they charged me 14bux tan in. Came home and threw them in. Woke up at and left at 10am, and here I am now at 12:15 all done and working, so not bad at all (that includes 40 minutes of driving AND removing them out of the donor car). Here's something no one mentioned, you have to sneak those cables out from under the rear vent ducting... needless to say I just broke the damn thing to get the cables out... really... who needs heat in the back seat Someone will probably come on here and say "oh man, all you had to do is... blah blah blah" lol... too late now!!

Anywho... all done.

Yeah, remove the console, then the panels between the driver & passenger footwells to replace the cables. Lift back the carpet on the passenger side, push the grommet & cables through. All four cable ends pop off easily with a screwdriver.

I found the part number, 22650716, available at www.gmpartsdirect.com with shipping for around $115-120.

Not sure I'd recommend going with used ones though as it probably won't be long before they'll break too. One odd thing I noticed searching google is that most of the cars it's happened to were 1997 model year, like mine. Must've been a bad run of them.

mine was a 1996.. not sure what year the donor car was though.

So, how did you get the cables out from underneath the rear vent ducting??

My new cables are being shipped to me, so I haven't gotten them to do the install, but I don't think it will be too hard. (Ordered mine from the dealership I used to work at a few years ago... even with shipping it's less than I'd be spending elsewhere, and I have an alternate vehicle to drive so wasn't a big hurry).



You can see the grommet hole in the passenger footwell. There's ample room to pull the cable up from the engine compartment, through the grommet hole, tuck it between the rear-heat duct and the tunnel, then pull it under the carpet with a rigid wire (coat hanger would work also) fed from the shifter area.

Did you install yours from the shifter down or transmission up?

I have a ? nathan, I replaced the shifter cable on mine twice! A new cable both times, it was when I would shift hard from first to 2nd. and it looked just like yours did. But when I put mine back in, I had to zip tie the cable in the engine bay because I dont have a damn clue where the bracket is where the cable sits in place.I grind when I hit 2nd and reverse now, and I know it is due to the added slack in the cable. Thanks


98z24, lowered 2", aem intake, cat-back striaght pipes!, cop lighs in the front and rear lights, 18" liquid metal's, primer black, tint, full audio and video.

^ If you look at my first pic, you can see where the cable has a notch (by the tile grout-line in the pic) where it goes into the bracket near the transmission linkage. There are pinch-type spring-clips on the cable that secure it within the bracket. Since I haven't gotten my cables yet, I don't know if they're included with them or if I need to re-use my old ones, but there is one where each cable attaches at the shifter and transmission linkage (4 total).

yeah man.. its a tight squeeze for your hands, but there is a bracket with two "C" Shaped holes, the cables slide in there. I had a hard time until i noticed I was trying to slide them on crooked... the have to be slid in square, if that makes sense.

Install was revers of removal. what I did was this.. unhooked everything in the engine bay, then unhooked everything off the shifter. F***ed around with the damn vents to get the cables out from under there and layed them on the passenger floor toward the door, removed the gromet from the firewall then pulled them out from the pasengers door.

I didn't even think to slide the cables down along the tunnel and pull them out there.. oh well.. its done now and working fine.