All the gurus on the forum, I need your help to resolve this mystery.

I have taken my new RS to alignment on Friday. Next morning I noticed that the shifter knob was rotated 90 degrees and numbers on it facing to passenger side door . I am the only one that drives it and it was the only time work was done on the car. I am absolutely certain that it was OK before I took it in for alignment and I am also certain that it is not the knob but the whole lever that rotated.

During the alignment I was watching the whole time and everything looked just fine. I had the camber bolt rotated to -2 position and had everything aligned to my specs. Aside from the way it looks there is nothing wrong with the way it shifts, feels or sounds.

I called both the alignment shop and Mitsu service and they are both puzzled. The alignment shop accepted to take a look at it tomorrow even though they insisted it can't be anything they have done.

Can anyone help explain what might have happened before tomorrow so I can point it out when I go?

Thanks for all the help and it is very nice to post here after years of wait even if for a sad reason

 

turn it back around....no biggy

 

what does the shifter have to do with the alignment?

worst case scenario is someone there took it off then screwed it back on 90 deg out of whack....pretty strange though

 

I tried... It does not move at all. I don't think it is possible to rotate it from inside the car (as I mentioned it is not the knob but the whole shifter that rotated).

 

I tried unscrewing and screwing back the knob several times. It only goes in one way (threads catch only at one point during the 360 rotation) and it takes maybe 20 turns to take it out, so I don't think the guy doing the alignment could/would have done that...

 

you're saying that you are certain that its not the knob but the whole shifter that rotated???

you say that everything shifts fine but just the placement of the "shift pattern" being rotated 90 degrees?

its just the knob! turn it back to the way you want it and everything is kosher. if the whole shifter was rotated = transmission was rotated and 1st gear would be at the 3 o'clock position instead of the 12 o'clock position.

 

I know it does not sound logical but it is not the knob. The knob screws in and stops only at one point. Everywhere else it is loose and rotates freely when you shift.

Can someone check this for me please. If you feel the shift lever under the leather cover, it makes a curve. I am almost certain it should be curving back, mine curves to the right side of the car right now.

 

Mine curves to the right. Yours is either fine or something's wrong with mine too. LOL

 

mine curves to the right also, hahaha i think we got a bad batch

 

try starting the car and play with the shifter. shift it from 1st to 5th and then reverse. that is the only way you'll be able to find out. more than likely, it's just the shift knob. good luck.

 

Easy fix. New shift knob with no pattern on top. I'm sure you don't need it anymore, right?

 

What he said ...
Its the knob .... you have to take it off and put it on a couple of times to get it right ... or just twist it, til it faces the right direction.

 

hahaha...they all curve to the right nothing is wrong with the shifter. Someone just over-tightened your shifter knob. But trust me there is no way someone turned your lever sideways and you're still able to shift all the gears properly.

 

Wow...all this for nothing. Its the knob man, nobody turned your shifter 90 degrees.

 

Thank you all for all the responses and checking the shifter arm on yours. I am convinced that I am either going mad or hallucinating This is like leaving your bike resting to a pole and finding the pole going through the frame when you return...

I can imagine how this whole thing sounds but I have no explanation of what happened to rotate it and I certainly can't rotate it back to normal-solid position (and I tried). I will let you all know if I find anything else to watch for other than the above explanation