Help! Dec 13 2020 11.00am XLR Stuck in Gear Hallandale Beach Florida at the Gas Station...lol Not funny but help please

[mpcv2000]

Hello.
When to put gas , nothing special , started the car back up , put in drive , goes reverse , put car back to Park , tried again on Drive , reverse again.
Turn it off and won't start anymore.
I'm ok to call the towing but where should I send it ?
They are special cars and not every neighborhood repair shop knows how to work on them.
Call / Text Martin 5 1 4 2 3 3 0 4 5 0

 

[mpcv2000]

Left to a Local North Miami dealer with a towing.
:-(

 

[Gord]

Hello.
When to put gas , nothing special , started the car back up , put in drive , goes reverse , put car back to Park , tried again on Drive , reverse again.
Turn it off and won't start anymore.
I'm ok to call the towing but where should I send it ?
They are special cars and not every neighborhood repair shop knows how to work on them.
Call / Text Martin 5 1 4 2 3 3 0 4 5 0

Hi / bonjour Martin,

I did a google search and it looks like the most common issue is a broken shift cable.

1) Does the shifter feel loose? Apparently that's the tell-tale sign.

2) You could *carefully* reach up under the car from the rear. Left side of the transmission, you should be able to spot the cable and its lever (doesn't mean you'll see the break).

Remember, *carefully* as if you decide to move it out of reverse gear, you don't want it to run you over or burn yourself on a hot exhaust pipe.

Shift Control Cable - GM (12569499)

Not that it amounts to much if it's already at a shop but the cable does seem to be the primary culprit for a situation as this.

HTH!

Gord

 

[mickeytee]

yep broken shift cable about 30$ and 30 minute repair but at the dealer most likely 10 times that. most have been advised to buy a repair kit and keep with
them and even replace their old cable end if they have not already.

 

[mpcv2000]

Yeah I was trying to avoid the dealership but stuck on a Sunday morning right at the gas station didn't give me much time to think.
I don't know anyone around here neither a good mechanic shop but if I was home I would have the XLR towed there I have a hoist , lots of tool and I'm pretty good mechanic ( as a hobby ) .

 

[mpcv2000]

I have everything to work on my cars home but I'm 1,663.41 Miles away right now....lol

 

[mickeytee]

nice stable. That mustang tail light is expensive but really cheap compared to the XLR

 

[Michael B]

Hello.
When to put gas , nothing special , started the car back up , put in drive , goes reverse , put car back to Park , tried again on Drive , reverse again.
Turn it off and won't start anymore.
I'm ok to call the towing but where should I send it ?
They are special cars and not every neighborhood repair shop knows how to work on them.
Call / Text Martin 5 1 4 2 3 3 0 4 5 0

Transmission cable came off. Had transmission shop I use all the time put a repair fastener on , it came off again. I did it myself next time and used a spring clip that slides in the indent. Hasn't come loose again and has been over a year to date.

Hi / bonjour Martin,

I did a google search and it looks like the most common issue is a broken shift cable.

1) Does the shifter feel loose? Apparently that's the tell-tale sign.

2) You could *carefully* reach up under the car from the rear. Left side of the transmission, you should be able to spot the cable and its lever (doesn't mean you'll see the break).

Remember, *carefully* as if you decide to move it out of reverse gear, you don't want it to run you over or burn yourself on a hot exhaust pipe.

Shift Control Cable - GM (12569499)

Not that it amounts to much if it's already at a shop but the cable does seem to be the primary culprit for a situation as this.

HTH!

Gord

 

[mickeytee]

everyone with an XLR should order one of these and have it in the glove box. If you work on your car and have the rear up inspect and replace your original cable with this part. if not and you break down you can change it in a parking lot of if any garage is close they can change it for you if you have the part. I have changed maybe 8 and id one for a former member on the interstate in the rest area. Much better at at he shop
Cadillac XLR Shift Cable Repair Kit (bushingfix.com)

 

[Michael B]

Yeah I was trying to avoid the dealership but stuck on a Sunday morning right at the gas station didn't give me much time to think.
I don't know anyone around here neither a good mechanic shop but if I was home I would have the XLR towed there I have a hoist , lots of tool and I'm pretty good mechanic ( as a hobby ) .

Hey even a zip tye will work in a pinch. They told me cable probably bad and that's a two piece cable but it was in excellent condition. The holding clip of whatever because it's no where to be found. Mines is 3 inches off the ground so when wrecker shows up I had him pick it up and I slid under popped cable back on and zip tied it in the valley area . Put metal like a slid clip when I got home. Zip help just find also. The wrecker company also has picked me up more than I few times . Lol . I work on this myself and have some knowledge of this beast. Still learning but will help in anyway I can.

 

[rheavn]

Mickeytee,
Should I consider the fix before the original one breaks??????

 

[mickeytee]

well on an 09 I would not but an 04/05 with 80k or higher . I would

 

[mpcv2000]

Dec 21st 2020.
So at Ocean Cadillac in Miami they charge me $710.16 to replace a shift cable .
They sold me that cable double the price GM dealers sells them online .
I'm not including the $135.00 towing but they have nothing to do with that part of my story.
I knew I was going to get rapped but what other options I had , none , I was at their mercy and they knew.
Could have been worst because Monday of last week when they opened I went there to chat with service dept. I gave them a set of OEM link kit I had in stock for that car , I was waiting to get underneath to install them but I knew they were going to put the XLR on their hoist so while there I asked if they can put them on.
2 days after they called back with my estimate.
Cable , I knew , now the fun part , all brakes are shot including A-Arms , brake fluid flush , etc.
Price was sky high and they said for my Link Kit they will charge me only $120.00 to put them on..... WTF.
I told them "NO" on everything ( except the cable obviously ) .
Got the car today , they did charge me $120.00 to put the link kits on when I said "NO" , Work Order say "Courtesy Wash" they never ever washed it , finger prints all over , oil stain on Armest , Carpet , door , fenders , Car cover with Tree Sap , etc.
Took a few pics after starting cleaning it , I should have taken pics before but too late now.
So this confirm they don't give a $hit about customer care at all.
No COVID-19 clean up before delivering the car too me , guy who brought me the car had a dirty mechanic overall , etc.
I shut my mouth up , paid and drove off.
Home I would have taken care of this myself but I'm on vacation at the mercy of any mechanic shop and they knew it + I'm Canadian so they knew all I'll do is pay , go and they'll never see me again.

Martin

This picture you see the little dots all over the paint ( not talking about the mud on the fender ) this is tree sap all over the car.
Took me over 1 hour to clean "part" of it.

 

[mickeytee]

the dealer is rarely your friend. That carpet damage to your car would have me in the General mangers office in about a minute. Plus if you told them not to install the links They would be eating that cost also. For anyone reading this and having the same transmission problem in the future ,and you will at some point any transmission shop can do this repair for a lot less. GM has a major failure with the cables and almost any Transmission shop has the cable repair kits or new cables in stock and estimates from a couple shops where quoted at 150-200$ Sorry you had such a bad experience with that dealer.

I looked at the list price of 133 and thought they must have gone up a lot since i bought one. . I checked with my dealer and GM list price is 95.50 so they just added 40$ of excess charges on the already gm full list price. What a ripoff.

 

[rexster314]

So they charged you for the new cable AND replacing the shift link bushings?

 

[mickeytee]

I think they replaced the cable and the sway bar bushings links was the 120 charge