5-speed shifter is a bit loose and sloppy

Hi everyone, I am new to this board although I have been stalking through posts for the past several months now. I have always wanted to own a Delorean, and I've reached a point in my life where it's sort of a "now-or-never" type thing. My wife and I don't have any kids yet and she has fully supports me going after my dream car, so after a bit of research and patience, I finally went and bought one!

Anyways, one of the issues I'm noticing right off the bat is that the shifter feels a bit loose. When I place it into gear, I can still wiggle the stick up and down quite a bit, giving the feeling that it's not completely engaged. It also wiggles left and right, but to a lesser extent. The clutch and transmission themselves seem fine...no grinding or any weirdness while driving. Any ideas on what might be causing this, or is this normal for a Delorean? This is the only one I've ever driven so I have nothing to compare to!

Dustin

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Originally Posted by eldusto84

Hi everyone, I am new to this board although I have been stalking through posts for the past several months now. I have always wanted to own a Delorean, and I've reached a point in my life where it's sort of a "now-or-never" type thing. My wife and I don't have any kids yet and she has fully supports me going after my dream car, so after a bit of research and patience, I finally went and bought one!

Anyways, one of the issues I'm noticing right off the bat is that the shifter feels a bit loose. When I place it into gear, I can still wiggle the stick up and down quite a bit, giving the feeling that it's not completely engaged. It also wiggles left and right, but to a lesser extent. The clutch and transmission themselves seem fine...no grinding or any weirdness while driving. Any ideas on what might be causing this, or is this normal for a Delorean? This is the only one I've ever driven so I have nothing to compare to!

Dustin

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Welcome to the board and congrats! There are a number of adjustments. Side to side is not usually adjusted (the cross-gate cable is set at the factory and is normally right) but fore/aft is adjusted by simple threaded rod linkages. Does the shifter clank when you move it? Not the transmission, but the shifter itself. There are rubber bushings with plastic half-sleeves in the linkage that can wear out over time and cause that noise. My car was missing every single one of them when I got it and it's not a hard or expensive fix. Adding them tightened up and quieted things down quickly.

Parts #7 and #8 on this diagram:

http://store.delorean.com/c-289-4-2-...t-linkage.aspx

Good luck!

That sounds pretty normal. I've seen some cars with really stiff shifters and some with really loose ones. As long as it doesn't pop out of gear I think it's ok. I know mine has loosened a bit over the years but it still feels good.

Its a normal thing that a stick shift has some slop when it's in the gear. You will have to get the feel of some other cars to know if yours is not normal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eldusto84

I finally went and bought one!

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I'll be praying for you. Welcome to the family btw.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eldusto84

Hi everyone, I am new to this board although I have been stalking through posts for the past several months now. I have always wanted to own a Delorean, and I've reached a point in my life where it's sort of a "now-or-never" type thing. My wife and I don't have any kids yet and she has fully supports me going after my dream car, so after a bit of research and patience, I finally went and bought one!

Anyways, one of the issues I'm noticing right off the bat is that the shifter feels a bit loose. When I place it into gear, I can still wiggle the stick up and down quite a bit, giving the feeling that it's not completely engaged. It also wiggles left and right, but to a lesser extent. The clutch and transmission themselves seem fine...no grinding or any weirdness while driving. Any ideas on what might be causing this, or is this normal for a Delorean? This is the only one I've ever driven so I have nothing to compare to!

Dustin

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Also, what's your location and VIN? Always good to know :)

Could a loose shift linkage bolt cause what he is describing?

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Originally Posted by stevedmc

Could a loose shift linkage bolt cause what he is describing?

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I wouldn't think a loose bolt would affect play, since it's either a pivot point or it isn't. But I *do* think the lack of bushings around the pivot bolts would do it. It absolutely did in my car. I don't know why they were all gone - all 4 bushings and 8 half-sleeves just went Kaiser Soze on me. Probably some DPO BS, but whatever. Adding them back made a huge difference.

However, if you're in the linkage anyway, do check and make sure your pivot bolts are nice and tight :)

Check the rubber bushings in the linkage. When I first got Red the shifts felt soft and I found that one of my bushings was nearly worn away. It was an easy and cheap fix even though it's a bit uncomfortable under the car.

http://store.delorean.com/c-289-4-2-...t-linkage.aspx

The part is number 8 on that page. I replaced all of mine at once even though only one looked bad.

Pretty soon someone will chime in and tell you to rebuild the transmission. You should ignore that advice and check the simple things first.