Dear Fellow Brickboarders,

May this find you well. I set forth a procedure for transmission shifter knob removal/replacement on a 940. The FAQ's procedure deals with 740 shifter knobs.

Tools needed: soldering iron (25-40 watt), needle-nose pliers [bent tip], pocket knife or utility knife.

(a) Remove overdrive switch from knob housing.
Using tip of utility/pocket knife, pry the over-drive switch from the knob. Little effort is required to do this.

(b) Get slack in wires to overdrive switch.
Using bent-tip needle nose pliers, grip the insulation sheathing around the wires that go to the switch. Pull GENTLY. There is perhaps 1/4" of slack to be had - and you will need it - but you must pull gently on these wires. They are thin. (If you break them, the shifter will have to be removed and disassembled to replace this harness. This is a non-trivial task.)

(c) De-soldering wires to overdrive switch
Once you have the switch body outside of the shifter knob housing, use white out to mark one side of the switch box and the wire that runs to that side of the switch. Use the soldering iron to separate the wires from the switch body. If the wires have been spot welded, cut the wire as close to the switch tab as possible. Set the switch aside.

(d) Removing the shifter knob. Move the shift lever to the "2nd gear" position. Grip the shifter knob with both hands and pull upwards. It will release suddenly. Protruding from the gear selector housing, you will see a square steel shaft, with a plastic rod inside of it. Nothing need be done with these: There is no link between the plastic rod and the button. The top of the plastic rod bears on the underside of the button, mounted in the top of the shifter knob.

(e) Attaching guide wire. To ensure proper routing of overdrive switch wires inside the shifter knob housing, solder the end of a piece of thin, flexible wire to the end of one of the overdrive wires. Thread the guide wire up through the channel in the shifter knob housing, and out through the opening for the overdrive switch.

(f) Installing the shifter knob. Making sure that the opening in the shifter knob faces towards the back of the car (and the shifter button faces the console), put the shifter knob onto the square shaft. It will slide freely, until it comes to about 1/4" from the bottom. As the shifter knob slides downwards, pull gently on the guide wire, to pull the overdrive wiring harness up towards the overdrive switch housing opening. Once you can see the end of the wires through the opening in the knob, use the bent-tip needle nose pliers to pull the wires out through the opening.

(g) Seating the shifter knob. Using the flat of your hand, press down firmly on the shifter knob. This will seat it. It will self-lock into place: you will feel the “clunk” as it self-locks. The plastic rod inside the square metal shaft will self-position against the underside of the shifter knob button. Check that this is so by moving the gear selector through its positions. It should do so.

(h) Re-installing the overdrive switch. Using your soldering iron, attach the overdrive switch wires to the switch tabs. Put the key in the ignition and move the key to position two. Press the over-drive switch button several times. If the arrow-head indicator on the right side of the warning light row at the bottom of the cluster goes from "on" to "off" as you move the switch button, you have a good contact. If not, re-solder and repeat the test.

(i) Closing-up. Push the overdrive wires into the recess, gently. Press the overdrive switch back into its recess.

(j) Re-test. With the ignition key in Position II, function test the over-drive switch again. If it does not cause the arrow-head indicator to go "on" and "off" each time, remove switch from shifter knob housing and check the solder joints.

Not knowing that the shifter knob is not linked to the shifter's internal mechanism, I dismantled the shifter, which I bought at a salvage yard. If you want to remove the knob at a salvage yard, you need only cut the over-drive switch wires, and pull the knob free. Only the overdrive switch wires keep the shifter knob from being removed without tools.

I hope this proves to be useful.

Yours faithfully,

spook