Adjusting Shifter Cables
 

I've noticed over the winter that it's getting tougher to shift into reverse. Figure the left - right cable needs a bit of adjusting. It's a 5 min job that takes 3 hrs b/c the entire center console must be removed, which is 1.5 hrs to completely extract it and the same amt of time to put it back together. Add the cold weather (we had snow flurries Sat) and it was easy to procrastinate.

But today I decided to tackle the task. Watched a YT vid to refresh my memory on how to remove the console and then dove in. Here are all the items I had to remove before I could get to the clutch cables.

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And here's what my int looks like - ready to adjust the cable.

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The left-right cable is the left one. The right one controls the forward-back motion.

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You must release the cable by pushing the snap carrier forward. The end of the cable has a plastic ribbed part that falls into a matching ribbed carrier. It can be difficult getting the cables lined up properly and can take some guessing as to where to place them in the carrier. It's suggested to mark the cable with a marker before removing them to get them set properly when putting them back.

Unless you have the Porsche tool to set the shifter in the proper location. It's a simple tool that snaps onto the lever and the front and back of the shifter cradle. Rather ingenius and simple.

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Since it was just the left-right motion that needed adjusting, I only did the left cable. After the adjustiment, it lined up with 2 more ribs showing, which makes sense with the direction it needed to go. After thinking about the work I'd done to prep for this, I decided to do the right cable too. It came out in the same position after my 'adjustment', so it was already in the proper spot. I added a few squirts of lithium silicon grease in the shifter mechanism for good measure.

Then a matter of reassembling (and cleaning) everything. No problems and all back together.

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Next up: a brake fluid flush. Our first DE is Sat and while I'll be busy teaching novice classroom, I hope to get a session or two in later in the day.

Did you pull all the quarters out of there while you had the console off?
I don't know why there were always quarters that found their way into the center there, haha.

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Nice little write-up, and thanks for including the pictures. I might be tackling a cable replacement soon, so more "how-to" resources like this can only help.

But shouldn't the title of this thread really refer to shifter cables, not clutch cables?

Great suggestion, updated. EXCEPT it appears the forum doesn't let you change the title once it's posted (thought that was the case). Sometime in the fog of writing, you don't spend much thought on titles. I also didn't include much on how to take the console out since there's plenty of videos about that.


Yeah, loose change seems to always find that escape route. But since my heart attack, fast food places have lost my business and that was the most opportune time to deal with change. To answer your question, I didn't look for any but that's b/c I usually go on the adventure of getting loose change out when they try to escape and I was so happy I got the console out w/o breaking anything I felt like that was victory enough.