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 1

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.