MX-3.com

Cant help but laugh...one thing after another with this car.
Driving home, my shifter suddenly dropped. I immediately thought of the shifter bushings that Ive read about on here. I got home (it still shifts, but very loosely) and jumped on here to search.
I found some threads saying shifter bushings, some threads talking about some plate....advice on siliconing it back in....
How do I know if its bushings or plate....actually, come to think of it I did hear something fall down under the car but dont think it went far. Ill have to go out and see if I can see anything.
any ideas would be great. I dont know where or what to look for. and to silicone it back together....is that from the inside of the car of outside
help!

http://www.mx-3.com/manuals/showimg.php ... J2-054.gif

OKay...the shifter (#25) passes through the base of the stabilizer bar (#29). In the base of the stabilizer is a rubber bushing that isolates the shifter from the rest of the car to reduce vibration. The part that the shifter sits in is bonded to the rubber. The 18 year old or so rubber gets dry, cracks, comes apart and your shifter falls through. It is currently resting on your exhaust pipe most likely which is why you are still able to shift.

You need a stabilizer assembly (#29) from an MX-3 or 90-94' Protege. Or you can mess with silicone and crazy brackets.

Yes, thank you. That is exactly what happened...like many others here. I got underneath and can lift the shifter up but the rubber mounts are done.
I left it for tonight, tomorrow I figure Ill take the whole plate off and take the shifter out and try to find another one or fix it somehow. Not sure if Ill find that part at a parts store but will give it a shot. If I cant find it, Ill have to go with the silicone trick for now. What about soldering it in...would that work or at least help along with the adhesive.

One of my first MX-3's the previous owner had used big heave zip ties to hold it up. I think he had drilled a hole in the housing and ran a zip tie through the housing and the shifter mount. That would work for short term.

It's a pretty easy part to change. If you have a pick n pull in the area you should be able to find one for $10-20.

Ok, so upon further inspection, this has obviously happened before in this car, there was two bolt holes already through the plate and floor. One bolt was hanging out but no nut to be found. So, easy fix. 2 new bolts, 2 new nuts, some loctite and lock washers. I also put some silicone around the inside of the housing where the rubber mounts go just for extra security and cushion. The shifter is actually sitting up higher than it ever has since I got the car. Havent test driven it yet, giving the sealant and loctite time to cure.
Also put duct tape on the intake hose and plugged the little vaccuum hose with a bolt. Not sure if thats what I was supposed to do but Ill see how it goes.

Plugging the little vacuum hose may affect the operation of the EGR valve. It is supposed to be open to the airbox. I'd leave it open.

For what it's worth, I vaguely remember seeing a permanent fix to the dropped shifter problem(Assuming it was in fact the plate, and not the bushings) somewhere on here... It was when I first joined, so it's very likely far down in the list or in somebody's worklog.

If it's bushings(or even if it isn't), I recommend the corksport bronzoil replacements highly. They're great, but if buy them get all 3(The 3rd link will give over 1/8" wiggle by itself if not replaced)

Good luck!

MrMazda92 wrote:For what it's worth, I vaguely remember seeing a permanent fix to the dropped shifter problem(Assuming it was in fact the plate, and not the bushings) somewhere on here... It was when I first joined, so it's very likely far down in the list or in somebody's worklog.

If it's bushings(or even if it isn't), I recommend the corksport bronzoil replacements highly. They're great, but if buy them get all 3(The 3rd link will give over 1/8" wiggle by itself if not replaced)

Good luck!

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=44745

^^That guy was still around a couple of years ago, but really I'd rather just get another one from the junk yard and fill it with 3M.

I've been sending people that link, but no one has reported that they haven't gotten in contact with him, so I assumed they were still available.