Z06ish

I got in my corvette yesterday afternoon to back out of the garage and when I went from P to R it felt like something came loose and the shifter moved freely throughout all the gears. This had happened once before to me in my 1998 Trans Am and the bolt had came out of the bracket that connects it to the transmission. I proceeded to jack up the rear of the car and inspect the connection on the tranny, looked good, had the wife move the shifter back and forth and confirmed no movement at the transmission. I decided to pull the console and unbolt the shifter, sure enough the bushing that fits into the end of the shifter cable that connects it to the shift lever was broken.


I jumped on the net and found a few threads for the C5 A4 and a couple for the C6 and most said they had to replace the cable. I then found another thread for a C5 that indicted they had successfully replaced the bushing with a part from advance auto, Dorman 14041. Here is a picture of the old bushing, the two pieces on top of each other, and the second smallest bushing that comes in the package.

The hardest part was getting the remainder of the old broken bushing out of the shift cable socket. Once I got it out the new one popped right in, with some effort...which was good as once it was in, it was nice and snug. After that I just reassembled everything back and it was fixed, cost me $7.49 and took about an hour and a half. I do not know if it is the same for all C6s, mine is an 05, but this fix is a whole lot easier and cheaper than replacing the entire cable assembly. Hope this can help someone out someday.

2005 Supercharged Widebody C6, 605 RWHP
1998 H/C/N2O Ram Air Trans Am, 546 RWHP

RicK T

Thanks for sharing. Nice troubleshooting.

There have been similar reports before. I'm going to throw these links in here to maybe also help others find the info in the future along with other pics.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...with-pics.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...t-working.html

ramon1367

Thanks for your post it is a lot of help for DIY. have the same symptoms like yours just a question I have to move the shifter all the way down to remove the console can it remains all the way down or have to be in park

Z06ish

Once you have the shifter assembly off you can manually put the transmission in any position that makes it easiest to manipulate it and get the new bushing in by pulling or pushing on the cable itself.

Update: My new bushing popped out about a week after I did this, I took it apart again and put a few drops of gorilla glue on the outside of the bushing before I popped it in the shifter cable socket. It has worked that way flawlessly since the day I glued it in.

Alex11b

Had the same issue happen this past Friday. Your directions were spot on. thanks for saving me a $$$.

johnnyb26

Great info just fixed my 2006 works great thanks again

Robster618

Had the same issue last night when I got home. Great description. Installing mine now

jmoffett

Mine broke this afternoon. Thanks for the post!

Andy Kamashian

Absolutely worked on my 2008 C6! $7.49 (used only one piece out of the kit) from Autozone and a 45 minute total repair time. Saved over $50 unnecessarily replacing the whole cable assembly, crawling under the car to get to the tranny and the time it took to get the Dealer-only part!

Thanks so much for the help.

Biggie G

nice! good job!

Fredclum

Have shifter bushing failure on C5, how do I remove console ?

corvettef9

This post was super help for me to swap the bushing. However, I am struggling to reconnect the shifter to the transmission cable. The transmission cable is inflexible upward, so it seems to me you have to somehow reach your hand in there while you squeeze the shifter ball back into the bushing with your hands while it is jammed back into position. Is there some trick I'm missing to putting those two back together?

Kenny94945

Thanks....easy to read story/ instructions.
Gorilla Glue....that's what is great about this forum...that seems like the insightful tip.

Thanks again.

Buy-Low

Same thing happened to me. George Nahas Chevrolet in Wildwood FL just charged me almost $500 to install a new cable.

JAV3

Thanks for the tip and actual part no. for the bushing kit from Autozone. I had already purchased a shift cable repair kit from BushingFix.com, but spent $19.99 plus shipping for the part. It was a simple and easy repair that works fine. I also had an issue with reconnecting the cable end to the shifter. I had to align the two and work the shifter down onto the cable end while seated in the passenger seat, as there's a bit more space to get your hand between the shifter and the inner tunnel wall. But it took some time and much patience.

emirayas

I have the same issue in my 05 I bought the bushings from autozone and installed the new one on the shifter side of the cable. I also jacked up the car and manually moved the lever on the transmission to the park position after inspecting the transmission side bushing which was in good condition. My battery was low from not starting for a week so i recharged it to 100%. Shifter is still not connected to cable but with the shifter in P and the lever manually in park my c6 still won’t start. I can hear the starter clicking and all my gauges on the dashboard act as if the car was starting when i push to start. Car still won’t start. Is there a different problem i’m having?

Smooth72

Just went through this on my 06. I was lucky enough just to do the bushing. I had some extra long needle nose pliers that helped. I had problems with shifting out of park so I did that mod will I was in there.