Sticky Shifter
 

Ive got a B&M with karboy bushings and have noticed that when its hot my shifter tends to stick. In neutral if I move it left or right it will stay in that position instead of moving back to center. It is also harder to get it in gear. I was thinking about taking it out and re-greasing it but I just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced the same problem. I have only had it installed for about 9 mo. now so I hope this isnt going to be a reaccuring problem every summer. Thanks

Sounds like it might be dirty. When you installed the B&M did you put the dust cover/rubber boot back on?

I have the EXACT same problem on a 2002 p5.

I have had the SS installed for about 12 - 18 months and began experiencing it about 1 - 2 months after installation. At first I thought the bottom of the shifter was rubbing the heat shield so I trimmed it and the problem persisted.

Greasing seemed to help a bit at first but showed no worthwhile improvement.

Phoning B&M was useless. They offered to "take a look at it" if I shipped it to them in Cali at my expense.

I even tried swapping back my old stock shifter to see if it was the tranny, but I couldn't remove the B&M it was so strongly wedged in there. I think this is what I will have to do in the end because I can't take it to a dealer (they will blame the SS right away and refuse service) and I am pretty much out of other options.

The problem is definately heat related as it is not as pronounced in the winter, and gets worse the more I drive in the summer.

I'm open to any suggestions because this is really a pain in the ass!

this is similar to the post i was about to write, i was having the same problem. I actually just installed the b&m yesterday and am pleased with the shorter throws but it was a little stiffer shifting, sometimes a lot stiffer, and the same thing when in neutral and pushing towards 1/2 it would stay. What i did was go back under the car and loosen the 12mm bolt/nut holding the shifter in place and now it's MUCH looser and has more play in the shifting, almost as much as the stock shifter, and doesn't stick at all, i'm gonna leave it like this for now and if i think it's too much play then i'll tighten it like 1 1/2 turns....

The other question i want to ask is about the snap ring that you first take off to get the stock shifter out......instructions say to put it back in, but when i have the new shifter in place it shifts perfectly and i can't even see where the ring would go (?????) i have an '03 DX and i know the instructions were based on an '01 i believe (from B&M) but i wouldn't think it would matter.......also the two thick white plastic rings, those don't go back in correct?? cuz again, i don't see where they would go back............

I thought about loosening that bolt, but I am worried about giving it too much slack. This is something that you would NOT want to fall apart on the road! In any case I will try it and see what happens.

About the snap ring: It will fit back in - its hard to describe where it goes but it does fit. I have mine in but you're right its pretty much useless. That thing is jammed in there so hard its not going anywhere. I can understand it with the stock setup but with the B&M I don't think its 100% necessary.

Anyone else having this problem? If this is a large enough problem we should really try to get B&M involved again.

No the plastic rings don't go back in.

re: Sticky Shifter
 

FYI, according to the FSM, the torque setting for the shift lever nut is: 12-16 ft/lbs. (16-22 N-m).

02 DX Millenium Red

It's normal guys. The transmission heats up and the fluid expands. The bushings and short shifter just let you feel the difference. The stock bushings and shifter don't let you feel anything. It's kind of like when your brake lines expand from heat, the pedal feels squishy and not normal. It's the same for the shifter.

also, when you shoved the B&M shifter in there, how far down is it supposed to go, on mine, i gave it one good shove and it went down to the top of the second o-ring on the shifter, is it supposed to be lower? it seems to be fine how it is, and it doesn't specify anywhere..........

Frustrated by the same problem!
 

I installed my B&M shifter a couple of weeks ago and I've had this exact problem since day 1. At first, I also thought it was touching the heat shield and so I bent it entirely out of the way, and then it got even worse because all the heat was getting in there even more. Then I put the heat sheild back over to cover it and the problem continued. As soon as my car gets hotter, especially on warm days, the shifter becomes sticky and very difficult to shift. Furthermore, my shifter housing (you know the black thingy with the hole you stick your shifter down into) makes a grinding noise when I move the shift left->right->left because the shifter is so sticky that its causing the entire housing to move. And now that I've been driving it like this for the last few weeks (when it gets hot, of course), my shifter housing is making a strange clicking noise whenever I pull back to 2nd or 4th gear even when the shifter is cold and behaving normally (i.e. not sticky).

During my install, I pushed the shifter all the way down and also got the snap ring on. However, the metal ring that's glued to the dust boot got separated from the dust boot when I removed the stock shifter, so I didn't realize to put the metal ring with the dust boot when installing the B&M shifter, so my dust boot just fell through the hole of the shifter housing and is now sitting there uselessly. I tried removing the B&M shifter to fix the dust boot, but getting it out of the shifter housing is now entirely out of the question cuz its in there so tight. That's also why I can't replace it with my stock shifter.

Did all the people experiencing this heat-related stickiness get their dust boot on right, because I'm thinking maybe the heat is getting through the hole a lot more since the dust boot is not on right?

Also, I think gcs118 is wrong when he says its normal. gcs118, you have to try my shifter when it's really heated up and then you won't think its normal afterall.

Is it possible that all of us experiencing this problem got a defective B&M shifter?

Why are you guys installing this shit yourself if you don't even know what to expect or even how TO install the stuff? You should know all of this BEFORE you buy the goddamn product. Give me a fuckin break...:mad:

Who the hell EXPECTS a shifter to get stiffer and stiffer as the car warms up BEFORE buying the goddamn product? This is not normal behavior, for any shifter, and should definitely not be acceptable for the B&M shifter!!!

Why don't you stop being so angry and not post if you don't have anything constructive that'll help us with our problem! Chill the fuck out!

How long did the install take?

I think everyone will agree that this is a simple install, and most definately the install is NOT the issue. Also, if you would like to come and feel my shifter (damn that sounds wrong) feel free, you will KNOW without a doubt that this is not a 'normal' behaviour.

The fact that there are now so many people experiencing this problem says more about the product than it does about the people installing it - but thanks anyways for the 'constructive' post.

I will re-torque that bolt this weekend, as well as inspect the dust boot, but you would think that a dirt-related problem would not be affected with heat.

I totally agree! If gcs118 tried out our shifters, he'd know for a fact that its not normal behavior. Furthermore, if his IQ was as much as his rage, he wouldn't have posted such a semi-retarded comment (i.e.: you should've EXPECTED your shifter to become extremely stiff with heat before you bought the well-known, not-exactly-inexpensive product!)