My transmission cable that is connected to the throttle will not retract.

I am aware that I need to replace it. My dilemma is that I'm supposed to take a 350 trip on Friday and will not have the time for the work. The cable came off the throttle yesterday night and is in the fully retracted position. Can I safely drive at the car without reconnecting the cable? I don't care if I'm lacking the passing gear, because we have a lot of snow covering the Wisconsin highways. I just need to know, if by not reconnecting the trans cable, my trans will function properly. It doesn't seem to be sticking in a lower gear at this point, but we haven't done any high speed driving? Will not connecting the cable have any effect on the trans shift points? Thanks for any advice.We plan on a relacement after the trip, that is, if we can drive with the cable disconnected.

I say the same thing... lube the cable and if that doesn't work, you can always just shift manually. The most important thing is to make sure that you don't lug the engine in a high gear, such as climbing a steep grade. There are some areas in WI that you might have to shift down, but not really that many on the interstate system. When you feel like the trans should've downshifted, shift down, take it out of OD.

You can drive your car as is, I'm quite sure that you wouldn't damage anything. This happened to my mom's 245, and it would shift into 2nd at 5mph, 3rd at 10 or something. It made an already slow car REAL slow. In the interim, I found that it was still possible to shift the car "manually" with the shift lever. At least leaving it in 2 until a little speed was gained and then shifting up.

OTOH, there is a very simple fix that might work for you. It worked on my mom's car and has been fine for a year now. This is to unfasten the cable from it's mounting and remove the orange rubber cap on the end. Then grab the disconnected shift cable vertically, drip some lubricant down into the cable housing and work the cable by hand until it starts to free up. Repeat. Repeat again. And again. I used White Lightning mountain bike lube, it is good on bike brake cables, so I figured, why not? Worked great, and I avoided $200 or so in repair costs. Re-mount the cable in it's place the way it was, it's easy you'll see. It's really just one nut that you have to undo.

It is easy to put the cable back on the pulley, the anchor on the end of the cable keys into it.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

vytas

Mark, I'm assuming it's your kickdown cable, you can drive the car you just won't have the ability to down shift by stomping on the throttle.Did you try pull it a couple times by hand to see if it would retract?It might just be stuck.

Good luck, Phil Stone