I have the front end of my 92 Accord sitting up on jackstands, getting ready to do some suspension work, etc. I had the engine off and the gear selector in park. I decided to try spinning the front wheels manually and listen as they spin, as I've read/heard that's one way of determining whether the wheel bearings might be worn and/or need replacement (if they make much noise could be bad wheel bearing apparently). I have rocked the wheel(s) back and forth and am not getting any play that way, nor have I heard any humming type noises while driving or anything like that which might indicate a bad wheel bearing. But anyway I gave the wheel a spin and it would barely spin so I figured dummy that's because the transmission is in Park. So I hopped in and was going to move the shift selector to Neutral instead so I could maybe spin the wheels manually then. But of course with the engine off it stays locked in Park unless (as I understand it) I insert and push down on the key into the selector lock release there on the console next to the shift selector handle. So I did that with the key into the lock release but still I couldn't move the selector out of Park, it was still like stuck there or locked there. So I decided maybe I'm not doing something right so I just went ahead and started the car and moved the shift selector from Park to Neutral. Then I hopped out to go see if I could spin the wheels manually, but to my surprise the wheels where spinning already, in the direction they spin when the car is in reverse. I quickly double checked, and the selector was indeed in the Neutral position. I put it back in Park, then I tried doing the same thing over again. This time, with the shift handle in Neutral, I noticed the wheels were not spinning. But when I went to spin one manually, it immediately went into the reverse spinning direction again, spinning under the power supplied by the car. I hopped back into the car, put it in Park and shut off the engine.

I've noticed recently that the shift selector is very hard moving out of the Park position; like something definitely wrong with the lever/linkage to make it so hard and almost stuck like that. Now, with my experience as I've described above, I'm hoping for comments/suggestions as to what might be wrong, what to check, and how to fix. Actually, any comments appreciated.

 

With the car lifted (make sure it's solidly supported), check all over the shift cable for damage. Any kind of damage where the cable ends at the transmission? Don't get me wrong, I'm just trying not to take anything for granted... Any chance you hit it with the jack?

What might be more likely is corrosion in the cable. Excessive friction in the cable leading to the cable getting out-of-adjustment?

 

The front end of the is solidly supported on the jackstands. Are you asking whether I hit the shift cable with the jack? No, I doubt that; I lifted/jacked only at designated lift/jack points, so I'm pretty certain I didn't hit anything with the jack. I'm actually not sure without checking/asking where the cable ends at the transmission as I've never had occasion to need to look. I guess I'll need to know what to start taking apart to look for any apparent corrosion on the cable, or excessive friction, and look into adjusting the cable if need be.

 

I never owned a 92, but the cable attaches to the transmission somewhere down low & sorta centered in the car.

You said the shift lever operates with difficulty. I was thinking excessive friction, and wondering whether the friction was in the lever or in the cable.

Remove the plastic stuff around the shift lever so you can see it. Maybe you can disconnect the cable & see whether the lever itself moves nicely. Also see whether the cable needs to be adjusted.

 

After doing some searching I came across a few other forum threads where they were talking about the same type of issue/symptom I'm having, and with 92 Accords. From what I can gather it seems the fix is probably gonna be having to replace the shifter cable.
92 Accord shifter cable replacement step by step | Honda Parts | Honda Car 101
Shift From "park" Getting Harder On A '92 Accord
How do I replace the shift cable? - CB7Tuner Forums

 

That's right. But you should first try to convince yourself that the cable itself is the problem. You don't want to waste time replacing a perfectly good cable & then discover it's the lever that's screwed up.

 

Yes. Would not be wise to jump to any conclusions before at least removing the console around the lever and take a good look at things. For one thing, I was looking in my repair manual (Chilton) and it does describe that the cable(s) (actually there are two of them, the selector cable and the shift cable) how to check cable adjustment how and adjust if necessary (provides exact measurements). It also mentions that the cables will rarely go out of adjustment. I'll be sure to post back here if I can determine what's causing the problem with any certainty and/or the fix for it. Thanks.

 

My statement (quoted above) from my last post here is a mistake. I was mistakenly reading from the manual transmission cable adjustment when I posted that. Actually, for the automatic transmission there's only one cable that goes from the selector lever to the tranny. I've removed the console and checked things out and have determined the problem does indeed seem to involve the cable itself and not friction or other mechanical issue with the actual shift lever. Therefore I've went ahead and ordered a new replacement cable. Because my manual does not describe details of replacing the cable, I was able to get a fairly good idea how to go about the replacement from some instructions I found online. The cable runs underneath the body of car starting from the shift lever/console area where it's fastened with a plate situated on bottom of the car body directly above the exhaust pipe and its lightweight metal heat shroud. Apparently if this shroud is loosened it can be moved backward/downward just about enough to get a ratchet up in there to remove the screws holding that cable plate. I took a picture of that area from under the car; I need to get back with my ratchet a little farther than that that bracket shown in this picture. Looks rather tight for sure, I hope just moving that shroud will allow enough room for access because I certainly don't want to have to lower the exhaust pipe.



Here's where the end of the cable goes into the tranny. There's a cover on the tranny housing that needs to be removed to disconnect/connect the cable. Looks to be three or probably four bolts holding this cover on, but just looking at it seems like maybe trying to remove one those bolts (there toward the back of the picture) may complicate actually removing that cover as it holds another thin metal shroud-like piece on the tranny or something there.



I guess I won't know much more until I actually get in there and start trying to remove this stuff, but if anybody with some experience doing this might have any advice/comment beforehand I'd certainly welcome it. Thanks.

 

So you did check the "adjustment"?

Anyway, not sure if this pic helps any or not.

 

Yep, I did check the adjustment as described in my Chilton manual. That looked to be fine and adjustment apparently not required.

The diagram/picture does help, thanks. Gives me a clear idea about taking that cover off and what's under there.