Icer350

Ok, I've been on lurking on here for awhile and I always search before posting, and I think my issue is slightly different than everyone else's, so I have to end up posting.

So I bought a S2000 from a high school kid a couple months back (it was treated like shit, I also wouldn't be suprised if i am the 4th or 5th owner). Cosmetically it is in rough shape, but mechanically it is decent. The engine just rolled over 103k miles a couple of weeks ago.

When I bought the car, The shifter had a ton of play, but it shifted perfectly fine into every gear, including reverse. So I knew before buying what the issue was, needed to replace the pivot ball on the end. I finally got the part in last week and took apart the shifter. I can tell it has been out before (probably multiple times) due to a tear in the rubber boot and missing the foarm. Once I got it out, the pivot was missing completely and the shifter was pretty dry with light rust on the lower linkage that shifter goes into. I clean the shifter and spring, place the new pivot ball on the end, and regrease everything.

This is the stock shifter, so it only goes in one way. Once I get in, I check that i can get into every gear, I can... Except for reverse. I slide easily into gears 1 through 6. But I just cant seem to get the shifter to depress. It goes down a little bit, but not like what I was feeling before.

Obviously this car has been driven without the pivot ball on the end for a while, don't know how long, would this cause any issues? It didn't look worn compared to other images I saw. The pivot fit snug on the ball end and didn't fall off. Everything has been greased really well. I tried going from each individual gear to reverse with no luck... just seems like I cant go down all the way.

Trying to figure out what changed? Any help?

BruceWarne

I think I saw a thread on something similar recently. You put something back the wrong way around. I think it fits both ways but only works one way.
Helps a lot. I know. Someone knowledgeable will chip in soon.

Icer350

Ok, so after much looking and reading, taking the shifter in and out, I determined I had the shifter in the correct way.

So at this point I took the advice of other threads and just started beating on shifter.... It turns out that I had to hammer downwards (towards the ground) to get the ball seated I guess. The shifter is now able to fully depress and allow me to go into reverse. So a tip to anyone else that finds the shifter has been without a pivot ball on for a while is to bang downwards on the shifter till the ball fully seats.

Car Analogy

...and do that before you reassemble, while shifter is still out of the car. Make sure you seat the pivot. Its really tough to go on. Can crack the plastic, so best to soak pivot in really hot water first, so its more pliable.

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