nosnow

Hi All,
I have a situation. I have an 89 S4 Auto that is parked nose first in the basement of a parking garage in my office. I am in a suit and have a full schedule today which involves driving to two other locations.

When I tried to put the car in Park the selector seemed to jam, I thought that was funny and I tried the full range of motion and it was stiff but it didn't seem to change any gears. The selector on the dash says "3" which is the gear I switched to when coming off the freeway. I have a feeling the cable either snapped or the cable came loose from the selector. Either way I have no ability to fix where the car is.

Ask:
- Is there a way to disable the Neutral safety? I can push the car into the isle but if I cannot start then there is no point. (I am hoping there is a relay or easily defeated switch)
- Is there easy access to the shift mechanism? I only have the tools that are in the factory set. The shifter will go into park as it should and will run the full range of gears but the trans stays in 3.
- Without seeing the car or knowing exactly what is wrong any advice on getting it out of the garage? No tow truck will fit, I am sure there is some method but I certainly hope it isn't push the car up two flights of parking ramps.

3 hours till I have to leave

James Bailey

You can jumper the relay which will allow it to start in gear.......the 5 speed cars have a jumper installed instead of the relay.

nosnow

do you know which posts need to be jumped? I think I have an emergency jumper in the car.

from another thread for a no start on an 84 "jumper wire from posts 86-87 (left and top slots) on relay XIV"

James Bailey

Pull the relay it has a schematic printed on it.....the little swinging door shows what is switched you need to complete that circuit. You could also open remove the relay cover and wedge the points closed to make it a jumper...toothpick works well . BUT CAR WILL START IN GEAR !!!!!

dr bob

Paul --

For your 1989 automatic car, find the STARTER relay in position XIV. Jumper socket positions 30 to 87. This disables the neutral-safety protection, allowing the starter to engage from the ignition switch regardless of whether the transmission is in gear or not. BE SURE TO ENAGE THE STARTER ONLY WITH YOUR FOOT FIRMLY ON THE BRAKE PEDAL. The car WILL lurch if the transmission is in gear.

On the left (US driver's) side of the transmission, the cable from the shift lever connects to the ball on the end of the selector arm. There's a little hairpin retainer holding it in place over the ball. PARK position has the cable fully extended, arm to the rear at full clockwise rotation. There are detents in the action of the selector arm, so you can count three clicks from the rear-most position to be in "Drive". You may be able to rotate the selector with the end of the cable still attached, depending on how it failed. Put the gear selector in the car in "2" position to allow that movement. You can reach the selector from just aft of the rear left tire, reaching under the rear muffler if it isn't too hot already. Use that large lawn trashbag you keep in the spare tire well to lay on, the one you keep there for these emergencies.

I've been in your situation, not quite in a suit (it -was- in SoCal after all...), and ended up moving the trans lever to neutral from under the car to allow a start, then setting the parking brake firmly and placing a handy rock in front of the rear tire before getting back behind the tire, reaching up and selecting Drive on the transmission with the engine still running.

SteveG

This is the selector they are referring to. I'm not sure you can reach it with tire in place. Maybe turn your suit coat inside out and place over the tire??

nosnow

nosnow

Back home and the car is in the garage and will be for awhile as I am swamped. Thank you all for your help.

FredR

At least you got there- well done!

dr bob

Paul--

Swapping out the cable takes less than an hour with [at least] the rear of the car up on stands. There are good write-ups on the various tips pages. I followed the workshop manual guidance in parallel with the instructions at a couple tips pages, and had no issues. When I changed mine, Greg Brown reminded me that perhaps the most fragile part of the cable assembly is the thread-on sleeve at the transmission end. It's not available as a separate part unfortunately. Just be sure to save the old one if it's intact, as a potentially valuable spare part for later. Remove the sleeve from the new cable, saving it final fitment after you've pulled the cable into place. The only challenge I faced was getting the console plate out, as it's held down with a potentially-fragile lever-operated mechanism. Patience is a virtue, and the pictures and instructions may not be as clear as possible about how to get it to release. When you get the plate and the tamber door (the accordian piece...) off, take a picture of the assembly screwed down, so you can get it back to exactly the same position it's in now. Else there will be some binding in the console when you move the lever. In the rear, take a picture or two of the cable alignment in the bracket at the left front of the transmission. The old cable needs to come out with a piece of rope attached to the rear end, and that same rope is then used to pull the new cable back down into place. You'll want to match the original curve and cable alignment so as not to risk that valuable rear sleeve. Be sure to get the rubber bellows for both ends of the cable, as the originals are undoubtedly crispified and ventilated. Use small cable ties to secure them. Lubricate the new cable before you install it. I used a waterproof silicone grease. I suspect that the Sil-Glide cable lubricant that Greg recommends for the sunroof cables would be good for the shift cable too. The shift cable has the benefit of the rubber accordian boots to keep crud out, so you can use real grease on it if you want to.

nosnow

Thank you for the advice.

Since I am going to have the car in the air I am going to also do a bit more preventative maintenance and replace the trans cooler hoses with Greg Brown's kit. Since I will have it all apart does it make sense to replace the bowden cable? It is a bit crispy on the throttle body side with cracked mounting plastic. Since the trans shifts okay I didn't want to bother with it but since I am in there is it worth replacing?

dr bob

The "bowden" downshift or TV cable runs in a tube on top of the torque tube, along with the trans cooler lines. The exhaust comes down and the heat shields come down for access. Then clamps around the torque tube hold stuff in place. If you are planning on servicing any one of these items then servicing the others only makes sense. To me anyway.

Mrmerlin

disconnect the o 2 sensor before you drop the cats