What happened to Beauty's tranny (pictures to follow)

[XLRATING]

We found out the problem was with a grommet on the cable that connects the shifter in the passenger compartment with the transmission in the back. It has a plastic (!!!) grommet on each end. When they took the tunnel off the car, they found only half the grommet for the cable where it connects to the shifter - it broke & not the cable itself. While they possibly could have wired it together, they went ahead and replaced it.

The dealership had never seen this happen before (consistent with what Cadillac Tech said, since they don't know Gizmo), & had no idea how or why it happened. Mike said there was some wear on the grommet, but still no real clues as to the crime.

Also found out that per the dealer the XLR is unusual in that the shifter goes all the way into the tunnel like a true manual.

The job required dropping the exhaust, although they worked around leaving it attached in the back because they did not want to have to deal with re-aligning the Corsa exhaust (the shop boss did that when it was installed & was very particular about it).

Best of all Beauty is back home, healthy & ready to go!

 

[Cadillac Tech]

Amy, glad to hear you found the problem. I have put a few shifters in over the years, & there are quite a few things to remove in order to get it out. Most all shifter cables have plastic ends that usually snap into place.

 

[XLRATING]

Amy, glad to hear you found the problem. I have put a few shifters in over the years, & there are quite a few things to remove in order to get it out. Most all shifter cables have plastic ends that usually snap into place.

Obviously I was kind of surprised by the choice of plastic - but obviously it generally holds up since this is a pretty rare occurrence. And I really don't know my car guts well at all!

 

[XLRATING]

The first thumbnail is the new and old cables side by side; new one is on the bottom. Second is the entire length of the old cable. Last is what they found when they took the tunnel cover off -- the half moon is all that was left of the grommet. Guess the rest is in a parking lot in Pa.!

All is well now and not that major of a fix.

 

[XFireXLR]

I had a similiar issue earlier this year prior to my engine teardown. I was amazed at how much work and how many thing had to be removed in order to get to the shifter cable.

 

[XLRATING]

We had less stuff removed, but more work on the dealer's part since they left the exhaust hooked up in the back. Of course we heard the usual - that XLR's are never easy to work on.

I was in such a hurry last night that I forgot to correct my original post - the broken piece was back at the transmission, not up at the gear shift.

XfireXLR, hope everything is still working well after your tear down.

 

[XFireXLR]

We had less stuff removed, but more work on the dealer's part since they left the exhaust hooked up in the back. Of course we heard the usual - that XLR's are never easy to work on.

I was in such a hurry last night that I forgot to correct my original post - the broken piece was back at the transmission, not up at the gear shift.

XfireXLR, hope everything is still working well after your tear down.

XLRATING.......so far so good, performance wise she is running better than when she went in.

 

[Hatty]

XLRATING.......so far so good, performance wise she is running better than when she went in.

Glad to hear Beauty is back on the road...

 

[Bakertech]

The first thumbnail is the new and old cables side by side; new one is on the bottom. Second is the entire length of the old cable. Last is what they found when they took the tunnel cover off -- the half moon is all that was left of the grommet. Guess the rest is in a parking lot in Pa.!

All is well now and not that major of a fix.

Wow. Apparently it at the Tranny end that the cable grommet broke. I am sure a brass bushing could be machined and attached to replace the plastic. Sad that it was cheaped up to save a few cents. Thanks for the photos. Ordering a spare next week.