First time poster here! I have a pretty serious, though hopefully easy fix, with my '98 Disco. I don't drive this very far or often (about once every two weeks) and when I went to take it out this time, the shifter was pretty hard to move. I didn't need to wrench it or anything but it gave me a bit of trouble when I went from park to drive.

This worried me a bit so before I left my driveway (I drove about 15 feet) I went to move it back to park, which got there but then something popped. The shifter now just slides (feels like it's not moving anything) along the gear settings without catching or switching from Neutral.

I've been reading some things that lead me to believe that this may be a switch or something that popped out of place and is easy to fix (which I'm hoping for) but I'm not a mechanic and I've never done more than just look inside the hood and check my oil levels.

Something that may be related: About a month ago (remember, I don't drive this that often) my wheel bearing on my front left tire needed a replacement. When I took it in, the mechanic noticed that my front brakes also needed some work. Here's what got done:

• Replacement of front left wheel bearing and seal
• Replacement of front brake calipers, pads and rotors.

Could the brake work have messed with my gear shift? Is this something that is expensive usually to fix or can I possibly do this on my own with standard tools?

When I say "doesn't catch" I don't mean that the shifter doesn't stop on a gear selection, it does (slides between 2 without button press) but rather when the button is held down, it just slides over the entire selection and stays in Neutral no matter where I stop with it and decompress the button. It also makes a slight popping noise every time I hold the button down and shift the gear up to park or down from park.

Any suggestions appreciated, thanks!

 

No, the brake work wouldn't have affected the shifter in anyway. If I am understanding you're post correctly, it sounds as if the shifter cable broke. There is no hard linkage on the transmission shifter, it is cable operated. Being that it was stiff to move, "poped" and is now easy would lead me to my conclusion. What you can do to check is this: crawl under you're vehicle, look for an arm with a cable attatched to it on the side of the transmission. Have someone move the shifter and see if the arm moves. Even better, grab the cable and see if it's tight.

 

Thanks kenk! I will give it a look tomorrow and report back. I really appreciate the input.

 

Jaace, download the RAVE manual and you'll know exactly where to look for the linkage. It's also a great reference for troubleshooting.

 

Okay, I got under the car and looked but I can't find any loose cable. I referred to the RAVE manual but didn't find anything helpful in terms of located said cable (http://www.landroverresource.com/doc...hop_Manual.pdf).

I also feel like it could be a smaller piece maybe within the console that broke or got displaced (though again, I'm no mechanic and have no experience with these types of things). Is there a possibility that something broke or came loose within the center console inside the shifter? It just doesn't feel like it's attached to anything at all because it slides so easily and the popping noise it makes is like a piece of plastic snapping against another piece of plastic. I'm still looking into this to see if I can even take this thing apart or if it's too complicated (special tools, etc). Any suggestions there? I'm looking in that RAVE manual but don't see any disassembly instructions there. I'll keep looking around online a bit.

I know that if I need to take this into the mechanic I'll need to get it towed so I want to have an idea of how much this will be before I get towed and am stuck paying some unknown price.

Nevermind about the instructions for the console disassembly, found it! https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...ssembly-25186/

 

You will not find a 'loose' cable dangling anywhere.. The cable is inside a cable housing. You will need to physically grad the cable to see if it broke.

 

OK, after looking at my spare shifter ***'y, sounds like you got more that 1 problem.

The detents to stop the shifter at the specified gear you want is part of the shifter ***'y itself. Look at the pic, and down inside you can see a curved piece of metal with teeth sticking up. Them are the detents. And the gear shifter itself has a flat blade that drops down into each "tooth". So one of the two(or both) are broke.

But,irreguardless, if the cable was still moving, it should still be shifting the trans.

 

Okay, I just looked again and had someone move the shifter (I was trying to find it on my own before) and I did indeed find that the small metal dowel, the shifter cable, is broken right where the thread starts before the attachment to the arm on the other side. The other broken end is still screwed into the arm.

I'm going to call my mechanic to see what the damage would be to get this replaced...by any chance would someone here know what the right price would be for that? Could I do it myself relatively painlessly or do I need specialized tools and the ability to remove a large part to get at it?

Thanks again for the help here!

 

If it's the shift cable that's actually broken (or a part you cannot buy separately) be prepared for sticker shock. Those cables are ridiculous. I'd probably try to find a used one.

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/FTC566.cfm

 

Try Will Tillery or Paul Grant.