slvr08gt
forum member
My car went to the dealer this last week to get the throw out bearing replaced under warranty. Arrived at the dealer to take delivery of the car. Started it and noticed the CEL was on. Told the SA and he ran the codes and determined that one of the o2 sensors needed to be replaced. While I was in the car, I shifted the car through the gears and immediately noticed that reverse just didn't feel the same as it did prior to dropping the car off for service. I told the SA about it and he said he would have his tech check it out as well......
Fast forward a week and I took delivery of my car. When I picked it up, I noticed that reverse still didn't feel right. I brought it up to the SA that it still didn't feel right and he said "Well, your car has an aftermarket shifter, so there's no way we can diagnose it" I argued the fact that it didn't feel this way prior to the TOB replacement but he looked at me like I had a unicorn attached to my forehead. At this point I had been without my car for over a week and was frustrated with a shitty service department and decided to just drive it home.
When I got home I immediately attempted to diagnose the reverse shifting issue.
Some things that I have noticed that are VERY obviously not the same as they were before my car went in to have the TOB replaced:
- Gears 1, 3, 5, and reverse all seem to be more forward in the shifter console
- Neutral seems to sit where 3 used to be
- 4th gear seems to sit where neutral used to be
Gave George at MGW a call to ask him if he had any idea of where I needed to check that would cause an issue like this. He instructed me to check the stabilizer arms since people/dealers have installed them upside down before. He also told me to check the motor mounts and transmission cross member. George spoke with me for about 15 minutes on the phone trying to trouble shoot what it could be. Great guy that really cares about his customers and his products.
The following day I put the car on ramps to inspect the shifter assembly from underneath. Everything looked exactly how it should. Arrow was facing towards the drivers side, stabilizing arms were right side up, rear shifter bracket was tight, and the bolts securing the stabilizer arms to the shifter assembly were tight. I was pretty surprised to be honest. I thought for sure something would pop out at me that was obviously installed wrong. Also tried adjusting the clock position of the shifter handle. No matter what position the shifter handle in, it makes contact with the MGW shifter base and bunches/binds with the MGW boot.
I also checked the transmission cross member and motor mounts to see if they looked uneven or loose. Everything underneath checked out as well
as far as I can tell.
Aside from the stiff/binding reverse engagement, the car shifts great. No other issues
Below are pictures and a couple videos that show currently how my shifter sits in its current state. I'm sure these pictures won't show much but I'm hoping maybe someone might catch something out of place.
Shifter without thin MGW rubber insulator.
Different view of shifter without thin MGW rubber insulator.
Thin MGW insulator installed. Shows that the holes line up correctly with the studs and the shifter itself
MGW shifter plate installed
Different view of MGW shifter plate installed
Shifter handle attached to show it hitting against shifter base ring that the MGW boot secures around.
MGW shifter boot is "NOT lining up with shifter handle shaft as it did before. Shifter is currently in the neutral position in this picture.
MGW shifter boot slipped on to shifter handle shaft. You can see the boot is bunched up a little. Shifter is in the neutral position in this picture.
MGW shifter boot slipped on to shifter handle shaft with shifter handle installed. You can see the boot is bunched up a little. Shifter is in the neutral position in this picture. Picture taken from passenger side.
VIDEO Showing the shifter handle making contact with the shifter base when shifting into reverse.
View My Video
VIDEO Showing the shifter handle takes a bit of effort going into reverse.
View My Video
My next step is to install the factory shifter to completely rule out the MGW being installed incorrectly by the dealer. It's worth mentioning that I found a similar issue with a misaligned GT500 shifter on a different forum. Unfortunately, the OP of the thread never updated it with what the cause was
If anyone can offer any advice on what could or is causing this issue I'm having, I would really appreciate it.
-Nick
Fast forward a week and I took delivery of my car. When I picked it up, I noticed that reverse still didn't feel right. I brought it up to the SA that it still didn't feel right and he said "Well, your car has an aftermarket shifter, so there's no way we can diagnose it" I argued the fact that it didn't feel this way prior to the TOB replacement but he looked at me like I had a unicorn attached to my forehead. At this point I had been without my car for over a week and was frustrated with a shitty service department and decided to just drive it home.
When I got home I immediately attempted to diagnose the reverse shifting issue.
Some things that I have noticed that are VERY obviously not the same as they were before my car went in to have the TOB replaced:
- Gears 1, 3, 5, and reverse all seem to be more forward in the shifter console
- Neutral seems to sit where 3 used to be
- 4th gear seems to sit where neutral used to be
Gave George at MGW a call to ask him if he had any idea of where I needed to check that would cause an issue like this. He instructed me to check the stabilizer arms since people/dealers have installed them upside down before. He also told me to check the motor mounts and transmission cross member. George spoke with me for about 15 minutes on the phone trying to trouble shoot what it could be. Great guy that really cares about his customers and his products.
The following day I put the car on ramps to inspect the shifter assembly from underneath. Everything looked exactly how it should. Arrow was facing towards the drivers side, stabilizing arms were right side up, rear shifter bracket was tight, and the bolts securing the stabilizer arms to the shifter assembly were tight. I was pretty surprised to be honest. I thought for sure something would pop out at me that was obviously installed wrong. Also tried adjusting the clock position of the shifter handle. No matter what position the shifter handle in, it makes contact with the MGW shifter base and bunches/binds with the MGW boot.
I also checked the transmission cross member and motor mounts to see if they looked uneven or loose. Everything underneath checked out as well
as far as I can tell.
Aside from the stiff/binding reverse engagement, the car shifts great. No other issues
Below are pictures and a couple videos that show currently how my shifter sits in its current state. I'm sure these pictures won't show much but I'm hoping maybe someone might catch something out of place.
Shifter without thin MGW rubber insulator.
Different view of shifter without thin MGW rubber insulator.
Thin MGW insulator installed. Shows that the holes line up correctly with the studs and the shifter itself
MGW shifter plate installed
Different view of MGW shifter plate installed
Shifter handle attached to show it hitting against shifter base ring that the MGW boot secures around.
MGW shifter boot is "NOT lining up with shifter handle shaft as it did before. Shifter is currently in the neutral position in this picture.
MGW shifter boot slipped on to shifter handle shaft. You can see the boot is bunched up a little. Shifter is in the neutral position in this picture.
MGW shifter boot slipped on to shifter handle shaft with shifter handle installed. You can see the boot is bunched up a little. Shifter is in the neutral position in this picture. Picture taken from passenger side.
VIDEO Showing the shifter handle making contact with the shifter base when shifting into reverse.
View My Video
VIDEO Showing the shifter handle takes a bit of effort going into reverse.
View My Video
My next step is to install the factory shifter to completely rule out the MGW being installed incorrectly by the dealer. It's worth mentioning that I found a similar issue with a misaligned GT500 shifter on a different forum. Unfortunately, the OP of the thread never updated it with what the cause was
If anyone can offer any advice on what could or is causing this issue I'm having, I would really appreciate it.
-Nick