Butch67

2000 Lumina, would not start - battery OK - thought it might be neutral safety switch - but noticed unable to shift out of PARK. Finally got it in neutral, then back in park, at which point it started. Took to mechanic. He found twigs by shift cable at transmission end (pack rat) and thought that might have caused problem, and said he would replace neutral safety switch just to be sure it wasn't that. However, he scoped the transmission end of the shift cable and said the plastic bushings showed signs of small cracks. He was also going to replace the shifter cable but Delco discontinued (part no 12458106) and there are no aftermarket cables. I did find a company called bushingfix.com that makes replacement plastic bushings, but not for this model. I could go to a salvage yard I guess, but the mechanic didn't recommend doing that because the plastic bushings from salvage might also be damaged from age. QUESTION - does anybody have any suggestions for replacing these bushings? Or finding a nerw replacement cable (although the cable itself is fine - it's just the bushings?) I've scoured the web for the part.. There are thousands of these Luminas on the road. (I have TWO!) It boggles my mind that this essential part can't be found!

oldchevy

You can take exact measurements and see if there are any brass or bronze bushings with the same dimensions. If not then any close ones can be modified to fit by a machine shop. I have done this before to other parts.

Butch67

thanks - it may come to that!

Butch67

Here's another thing I just realized - the mechanic had told me the shift cable on my Lumina was a "dual cable" and the picture of the part number I got from a dealer (Delco 12458106) does appear to show two cables leading from the central connector toward the transmission. However, my factory shop manual shows only one cable from that connector, and on my duplicate 2000 Lumina I see only one cable too. (From the gear shift lever on the steering column the shift cable goes through the firewall over the engine where there is the central connector, then continues as one cable down under the air intake and back toward the shift lever mounted on the transmission housing.) I tried to upload pics but I must be restricted from doing so as a new member since I don't see them here.... I found a site that claimed to have the discontinued OEM part ("1packagedeal.com" - I'm a little suspicious of that site but I paid with a credit card -we'll see what or if they actually ship to me) but now I'm confused about this part having two cables - given that the shop manual and my duplicate Lumina both show/have only one cable coming from the central connector. At first I thought this "second cable" was just the second half of the cable going from the central connector to the gear shifter in the car - but from the pic of the part it doesn't look that way. Is anybody familiar with this?