How can you tell if a gear shifter is working?
Tension the cable manually and work the shifter, you should feel it moving the cable for all gear shifts. If it’s hard to feel the cable moving, stick a ‘flag’ of tape on it and a marker of tape on the frame so you can see the relative movement. Once you are convinced the cable is being moved by the shifter properly, check the cable/housing run.
Why is my shift selector cable not working?
The cable could be broken or has stretched beyond repair. This prevents the transmission from having the leverage needed to change gears. The car will not be able to be used until this problem is solved.
Can a broken shifter cable cause a car to not go into gear?
If your car doesn’t seem to want to go into gear at all, it might not be a faulty transmission – It could just be a broken shifter cable. If the cable is broken, you’ll be able to move the shifter into any position, but the transmission will stay in the same gear.
How does the third shift cable work on a manual transmission?
Moving your shifter left or right pushes or pulls the other cable, moving the shifter assembly up and down. If you have a six-speed manual transmission, your vehicle may have a third shift cable that moves a lock-out lever.
Tension the cable manually and work the shifter, you should feel it moving the cable for all gear shifts. If it’s hard to feel the cable moving, stick a ‘flag’ of tape on it and a marker of tape on the frame so you can see the relative movement. Once you are convinced the cable is being moved by the shifter properly, check the cable/housing run.
If your car doesn’t seem to want to go into gear at all, it might not be a faulty transmission – It could just be a broken shifter cable. If the cable is broken, you’ll be able to move the shifter into any position, but the transmission will stay in the same gear.
Moving your shifter left or right pushes or pulls the other cable, moving the shifter assembly up and down. If you have a six-speed manual transmission, your vehicle may have a third shift cable that moves a lock-out lever.
When do you need to address gear shift linkage?
If you are experiencing Harley neutral issues, “hard neutral”, or having a tough time shifting your Harley, you may need to address your Harley-Davidson gear shift linkage as an assembly. Sometimes, a misaligned shifter linkage splines will be obvious to diagnose. Other times you may need to examine the assembly more closely.