Fordzilla80
Ranger Lariat
For those who don't wanna read about the whole deal,my question is at the bottom.*
The other day my neighbor calls me up saying somethin is wrong with her van.I head next door,and she tells me that she was coming home at about 3 in the morning,when she hit a pothole on some dirt road,and all of a sudden,her van stopped moving and shut off.She said she could move the gear selector,but the van wouldn't do anything,and it wouldn't start back up.She called a tow truck and had it towed back home.So,I hop in and try to turn the key.As she said,nothing happens.The lights work,as do the gauges,but it will not turn over.There was no sound coming from the starter at all.So,I pop the hood and look over the engine compartment.I don't see anything mechanically wrong,and there weren't any fluids leaking.I decided to trace the gear selector linkage,and found where it connected to the transaxle.I manually put the transmission in park,and then told her to run through the gears.As she pulls the selector,I see the selector cable and bracket move through the gears.Then,I tell her to put it back in park.She puts it back in park,but the bracket and cable don't return to the park position on the transmission.So,for one reason or another,the cable isn't pushing the bracket on the transmission into the park position.It's about 8 at night when i'm doing this,so I couldn't get under the van and see exactly why it wasn't returning.I figure she knocked something on the cable loose when she hit the pothole.When I realized that the cable was the culprit,I manually put the van back in park,and told her to start it up,which it started on the first try.So,I concluded the no crank problem to be the NSS doing it's job.
*Anyways,I was looking through various part supplier websites,but couldn't find anything on new transmission gear selector cables.Would that be special order/dealership item?I'm sure I could get one from a junkyard,but I don't recall seeing many Grand Caravans at my local yards.So in the event that I can't fix the current cable,or if the local junkyards don't turn up anything,where can I get a new cable?The vehicle is a 98 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3 V6.I'm unsure of the transmission.Thanks in advance for any help.
The other day my neighbor calls me up saying somethin is wrong with her van.I head next door,and she tells me that she was coming home at about 3 in the morning,when she hit a pothole on some dirt road,and all of a sudden,her van stopped moving and shut off.She said she could move the gear selector,but the van wouldn't do anything,and it wouldn't start back up.She called a tow truck and had it towed back home.So,I hop in and try to turn the key.As she said,nothing happens.The lights work,as do the gauges,but it will not turn over.There was no sound coming from the starter at all.So,I pop the hood and look over the engine compartment.I don't see anything mechanically wrong,and there weren't any fluids leaking.I decided to trace the gear selector linkage,and found where it connected to the transaxle.I manually put the transmission in park,and then told her to run through the gears.As she pulls the selector,I see the selector cable and bracket move through the gears.Then,I tell her to put it back in park.She puts it back in park,but the bracket and cable don't return to the park position on the transmission.So,for one reason or another,the cable isn't pushing the bracket on the transmission into the park position.It's about 8 at night when i'm doing this,so I couldn't get under the van and see exactly why it wasn't returning.I figure she knocked something on the cable loose when she hit the pothole.When I realized that the cable was the culprit,I manually put the van back in park,and told her to start it up,which it started on the first try.So,I concluded the no crank problem to be the NSS doing it's job.
*Anyways,I was looking through various part supplier websites,but couldn't find anything on new transmission gear selector cables.Would that be special order/dealership item?I'm sure I could get one from a junkyard,but I don't recall seeing many Grand Caravans at my local yards.So in the event that I can't fix the current cable,or if the local junkyards don't turn up anything,where can I get a new cable?The vehicle is a 98 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3 V6.I'm unsure of the transmission.Thanks in advance for any help.
