The cable broke 20 miles from home, got it towed to Kelly Buick in Bartow. $700 later it had a new cable. Don't go anywhere near the Effing Dealer.

 

My wife's 2003 50th Anniversary just had the cable fail. Only 46,000 plus miles. Thank goodness it happened at a Winn Dixie parking lot. I thought my wife was kidding when she called me at work. Sure enough, the car would start but the shift lever just moved back and forth with no gear engagement. Called Taylor Towing. Tow truck driver knew exactly what to do. He backed his truck up to the rear of our C5. Told me to get in and start the car but put my foot hard on the brake pedal. He then lifted the rear wheels off the ground, crawled under the rear of the car and manually shifted the transmission into drive. He let the car down and I was able to drive our C5 to the dealer for repairs. New cable cost $80.00. Installation cost $291.00. With taxes and disposal total cost was over $400.00. Other concerns about this issue are (1) Imagine had this happened at a stop light and the driver put the car in neutral and the cable plastic grommet broke then. You'd have a lot of irrate drivers behind you. (2) For those drivers who like to shift up from first gear, second, third and then drive while entering a major highway, imagine what it would be like to drive a car on the highway if the plastic grommet failed while shifting between say 1st and 2nd gear with the shift lever? This issue should be made into a recall. It could be very dangerous in other hypothetical situations. I hope all of us who have had this problem write to their GM Chevrolet Motor Division Chevrolet Customer Assistance Center P.O. Box 33170
Detroit, MI 48232-5170 with a certified return receipt letter explaining the problem. Also send a copy to the NHTSA Headquarters
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE West Building Washington, DC 20590. We should not pay for this problem.

 

No kidding. That's a complete rip off.
The cable itself costs $58 including tax at the dealer (probably cheaper elsewhere). It's the labor that sucks. It takes about 3 hours to change it out.

 

I pulled into a parking lot today and put my car in park and it felt loose. I knew exactly what happened. the shifter came out of the cable.
I pulled the trim panel away from the shifter and pulled the shifter out. Sure enough. The cheap nylon clip that holds the shifter to the cable, broke.
I manually pulled the shifter into drive and went to the dealer. They told me you can't get just the clip; you have to buy the whole cable.
Screw that crap. I called the speed shop that works on my car and the owner told me he keeps the clips in stock because it's such a common problem. I asked where he gets them. He said Ecklers. I can't seem to find the part on their site. You probably have to call them for it. Anyway, the part is cheap and works like a charm.
Better to spend $10 and 10 minutes worth of your time, than $58 and at least 3 hours of time replacing the cable.

 

I have a '99 C5 with 18,000 mi. I towed it from FL to Asheville NC to drive the mountains…slowly. The car is an automatic. Today, without any warning, the car started but refused to go into any gear and the shifter slid easily from P to 2 without depressing the clutch. While in this mode the tranny was in reverse the entire time and regardless of where the shift was set. I shut the engine off, tried to restart it and it simply clicked repeatedly and didn't crank. With the engine off, the I could slide the shift mechanism from P to 2 without depressing the clutch. After a time, while shifting, I heard a more solid change in sound and found I could start the car and shift it normally.

Is this the same problem as others on this thread posted? I have never had this part of the car apart for any reason and in fact I have no idea as to what to look for. The problem seems to be electrical and mechanical. What do some of you think about this? Many thanks, 8Birds

 

Had my cable replaced today. $620. 125 for cable plus 4 hours labor.

 

OK, here's an update. Car locked up in reverse. The flatbed came, once the car was hooked up the driver jacked up the rear a tad, dove under the car and put it in neutral, loaded it and drove away. A local Corvette friend suggested a garage who replaced the shift cable for under $300: yes nod: Showed be the shifter cable that had a rubber grommet on a metal ring and said the grommet had dry rot and most of it fell off. Seems pretty stupid to make a cable shifter that depends on a rubber grommet. The local dealer wanted $700 for the repair. Go figure!

 

To make a long story short, my shifter broke had car towed home
read info on forum , mine broke at shifter, got new part installed.
Like many people have already said "I COULD FIX IT IN 30MINS
IF I HAD IT TO DO OVER AGAIN".
If yours breaks at shifter send me a message I would b happy to help save you some time and frustration

 

I am a new corvette owner, purchased a 2006 automatic convertible with 31,000 miles 5 days ago. Already the car has left me stranded. My wife forced the shifter from park into drive and we could not get the car into reverse or park. Took the car home (150 miles) Took the top of the shifter apart and finally got the thing back into park. What can be done to help with this problem.

 

See these two links:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...er-module.html

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...with-pics.html

 

Everyone that's been posting to this thread can help if you report it to the NHTSA. It's a safety problem that deserves a recall.

Here's where to report it: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/Vehicl...nt/index.xhtml

Here's what I wrote and submitted. They need to see many reports to act, so copy and paste anything useful, but please report it.

 

The bushing isn't the only way these cables can fail, the outside is plastic and that can crack due to heat exposure in the tunnel area. An all metal cable should have been used such as these:https://www.cccables.com.

 

can i do the job be removing the console and the shifter?