Hey guys, ChrisFix here
Does your gear shift indicator not line up properly?
Well, today I am goint go show you how to make it go from this...
to this.
my gear shift indicator does not line up
that's drive
that's neutral
that's reverse
and that's park
so what I am going to do
is, I will show you how to adjust this
so that it goes right over the letter
just like it is supposed to
it is a really simple job and only takes 10 minutes
and requires basic hand tools
you dont need any parts
and this is all you will need to do this job
a couple of sockets and an extension will help
a ratchet, some torx bits,
and if yours ends up being broken
you are going to need some glue or epoxy
needle nose plyers
and maybe some zip ties
you will see later in the video, you can either use the zip ties
or just the glue, or both comined
so that will be up to you
We are going to have to go under the steering wheel
so I would move the seat back to make more space.
With the seat pushed back
we will go under the steering wheel
and we will remove this right here
this is really easy
there is a bolt here
there are two bolts here that hold this on
and then there is a bolt right there
here is the bolt we will be removing
you can either use
a 7mm socket and ratchet,
or a T20 torx
there is one
the next 2 are going to be under the hood relase
In here I will use a torx
there is one
and there is two
we can leave this here dangling
and then take off this last bolt right here.
there is the last one
to get this off all you have to do is pop out the clips
here
and here
you just use your hands and pull it straight out
and do the same thing on the other side
and this will come right out
you can see what the clip looks like
it is metal, which is good, so it wont break on you
You can see there is a big metal piece here,
There are 1...2...
3... 4...
5 bolts you have to take out
these are 8mm
[ratcheting]
now this can come out when that last bolt is off
so with the cover off
you can see this wire right here
it runs down
to this gear here
and you can see the problem, this is broken.
so no matter how I turn this
it wont adjust anything
Yours might not be broken so all you have to do
is turn this gear
until it is adjusted correctly on the dash
make sure your car is in park
turn the gear
until the orange indicator moves over the "P"
I am going to adjust it, and you can see
that it moves all the way over
and I want it right there.
Now that we know that is where we want it,
since mine is broken
I am going to try and fix it
but, if yours isn't broken, you can just
spin that gear to adjust it, and then you are done.
There are two ways to fix this
the first way
is to use zip-ties
I have two zip ties that would fit perfectly right here
and the zip ties will prevent the gear and wire from sliding this way
which would mess up our adjustment
the zip ties would lean against the wire
and it would hold it in the correct position.
That is the easiest and fastest method
The other method is to use some glue
You can take this off, use the glue
and glue this back together
This should be glued like this
So you can actually unbolt this,
this is a 6mm
and this will come off
and then just unlatch the wire loop
and take this all off so you can glue it
or epoxy it. Epoxy will be a little stronger
and that is what I am going to do
this is a 5mm
it's not in there very tight so you can just use your hands to unscrew it. You don't need a ratchet.
That comes right out, like that.
Be careful of the yellow wire, this is for your airbag so don't mess around with it.
Just get your hand back in here
slip that off, just like that
The wire cannot be pulled all the way in there so you can just let go and now worry about it.
Now take the parts off
and lets go glue it.
I am going to use epoxy because it will bond stronger.
We can leave the black gear out.
And, you can see this is where the piece broke,
right, there
just like that
this setup holds the gear wheel in the middle
but this piece is broken off.
Just get some of this epoxy
put it where it is broken
so now that the pieces are together,
I am just going to hold it together for 2 minutes
and then I can let go and it will cure in place.
so now in 20 minutes
we can use this
but for now, just let it dry
I added more epoxy in the corners where it broke
to give it extra strenght
as we let that dry for 20 minutes
I want to show you guys something we can do
for preventative maintenance
It will cause you a huge headache if you don't check it out now
On these Fords, Mazdas, Mercurys, and Lincolns
they have this problem with a bolt backing off
and to find this bolt
what you are going to do is follow this shaft here, back
to right here
here is the steering column
and then you look behind it here
and you can see already there is one bolt backing off
this is what connects to your shifter
so I will wiggle the shifter
I am not going to change the gear because we have the gear selector apart,
and it is not worth messing around with
but you can see when I move the gear shifter,
this moves
and what happens is this connects to this wire right here
and that wire runs to the transmission
and it will select a gear for you
so it is worth it to take that bolt out
put some thread locker on it
and then screw it back in
the size of the torx is a 30
so I have some removable thread locker
and I will just put a little on the end
right there like so, you don't need a lot
now I will hand tighten this in
and just tighten this all the way so it is nice and snug
good
and now that we just did a little preventative maintenance
lets go install that piece we just epoxied together
it has been 20 minutes so the epoxy is at usable strength
so lets bolt this back in
make sure you fit your little black wheel in between here
this only fits in one way
just like so
got our bolt here
just tighten that up
this just needs to be hand tightened so just snug it
no need to go crazy
that is snugged up
now we can slip our wire though this
so we will move this up into the wheel
and then spin the wheel
once you get it threaded in there
adjust it to where you think it will be good
it doesn't have to be perfect
just want to make sure you have enough slack in this wire
so we can attach it to this hook right here
with it adjusted, I am using a needle-nose plyers
I am just hooking it
onto this
good
and now you can see the pressure
is on the back piece that we just epoxied
so to mitigate some of that pressure
what I am going to do
is I am going to put
two zip-ties right here, like I was talking about before
and that will prevent some of that pressure that is against that piece we just glued
so it will last a lot longer
even though it is epoxied really good
I'll just bring one zip-tie up
tighten that down just like that
I gave it a little more space so I can fit the other zip-tie in there
cut this
get the other zip tie
tighten that one down right next to this one
so we have our two zip-ties in there
cut this
and now we will bring our adjuster wheel back
so the adjuster wheel is slightly leaning against the zip-ties
now we will look and see where we want this adjusted
that looks good
and we can see
that this takes stress off of that back piece which is fragile
I did this on my other Ford and it has lasted over 5 years
so now we are done with this
and we could put everything back together
grab our piece of metal here and put it in place
get a screw at the top
hand tighten it
get another screw and hand tighten that one in
now we can let this go
we will hand tighten the rest of the screws in
and we will snug them up
no need to over tighten them, just make them snug
I always do the bottom one first because it will put everything else right in its place
good the metal is on there
so lets get our plastic cover
you want to align these tabs here
with the holes right up here
and the same thing on this side
and once that is aligned
just press it in like that
and lets get the four bolts in that are under here
now we will take the four screws we have left
hand tighten them
with everything hand tightened in
we will get our torx and tighten it up completely
finish with the handle here
and now we are done!
OK, the moment of truth
Perfect!
Now it lines up
and now I can see what gear I am going into
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