Squeeky shifter... After 3k miles???

Anybody else had this issue.

I'm going to have to tear the center console apart and get down to the shifter and lube it up it seems unless something else is wrong.

It squeeks between 1st and 2nd (really bad if you push to the left a little harder) and it was at first an annoyance and I thought it was due to the sudden humidity but now it's doing it all the time and it's getting harder and harder to go from 1st to 2nd but 3-4 and 5/R work perfectly

If I get it over to where I need to go to get in 1 and 2 and do not press it any further to the left (as in take my time and make effort to do it flawlessly) it does not squeek or drag.

Will just tearing it apart and lubing it up with some HQ grease solve this? Will I be doing this again in 3k miles or is there something wrong?

Thanks!

Mike

 

If the squeaking is coming from the base, you'll need to lube it with some white grease. Stock shifter?

 

Yeah stock shifter.

I can hear the rubber bushings if I push hard in any direction so I'm pretty certain it's not that. I think it's the "ball" section has rubbed off the lube in one area from the ever so constant 1~2 shifts.

Maybe I should be a little easier with my shifter??? Or is this a normal thing?

Mike

 

All I could find is the spray-can white lithium grease so I am going to go with that and see what happens.

Mike

 

It sounds to me like the shifter cables need to be re-greased. My friend had this same issue on his Evo IX after we installed his short shifter. I suspect that the grease somehow got rubbed off of the cables during the install. Try greasing the cables up a bit with that white lithium grease, that should fix it.

 

When I pulled the center console out and looked at it you could see the "Grease" was visibly "rubbed off" of the pivot point of the shifter. It looks as though it was BARELY greased at all from the factory.

I put a good amount of the white grease on the top and used some latex gloves to work it in the ball and around the bottom and then worked the shifter all around. I then added extra grease to the top (that will work it's way down as time goes on).

I put it all back together and it's amazing how much easier it is to shift. I thought it shifted good new off the lot but now with this grease it was almost like I was "working" to shift the car even new. Now it "glides" between gears. I don't mean it's loosey goosey - it still has that "firm" feel too it but it just doesn't resist being moved between gears near as much as it did especially 1~2.

Mike