How do I replace my bowden cable? Im Stuck :-(
 

Hello all,

I unhooked my bowden cable from the throttle linkage, but I cant for the life of me figure out how I get the transmission end of the cable off. :-( the cars in the driveway right now up on jackstands, and I have to do it b4 tomorrow because I need it to go to work. PLEASE HELP.

You have to take the tranny valve body off and then you can get some needle nose pliers up in there to unhook the old one and hook the new one up.

It a huge PITA. You'll need a competent helper to do this...

First, thoroughly clean the part of the tranny where the cable enters the tranny housing.

Now, to remove it, at the point where the cable enters the tranny, pull the outer part of the cable upwards and towards the right side of the car. The end of the cable is rolled into a spring-like coil and fits over metal shaft or arm in the tranny body. Pulling it to the right side of the car will slide it off the shaft.

To install, have your helper ready on the engine-end of the cable to manipulate and move the inner part of the cable while you hold the tranny arm and outer part of the cable and guide the end of the cable back onto the arm. A pair of bent forceps will help.

It's no fun...particularly when the engine is hot. There's little or no room to work and you can't see jack squat.

Good luck dude.

engatwork's method is the "proper' way and is probably the best...but, I have done it without dropping the valve body. Might be best to arrange for a ride to work tomorrow.

Yes HUGE HUGE HUGE PITA.

I managed to do it by myself using a seal remover/installer which looks like a dentist's pick that you can pick up at any local autoparts store. This tool is used to pull all the slack in the cable outside of the housing that plugs into the valve body.

Then I used a pair of needle nose vice grips to grab the arm on the valve body and hold it outside of the transmission housing....then slip on the cable while pulling out the dentist's pick and voilà. pull slack carefully out on engine side and then carefully reinstall back into tranny housing. Pull excess slack out again at engine side, put it back into the bracket and then readjust.

This took me probably an hour to do and something I really don't want to do again while the transmission is attached to the vehicle.

oh, sorry to get it off you turn the plastic bit on the cable 90 degrees, counter clockwise I think if you're looking towards the engine. This will allow it to slide right out because it's locked in by a small plastic tab that clicks into a tab on the transmission housing.

I replaced the bowden cable tonight, wow what a PITA!!! I actually dropped the valve body and then I saw that the cable attaches outside the tranny, but problem is that it still shifts early just like it did with the old cable on it. :-( Damn, whats wrong with this car. I did hook my mighty vac up to the modulator valve and i found that the modulator is leaking vacuum. i ordered a new one from fastlane, but could a leaky modulator cause this problem? Shifts at like 10, 15 and 20 mph. no matter if i press the kickdown switch or not. Im at my witts end.

That's why I said that dropping the valve body is not necessary...though may facilitate the job a little bit.

The vacuum modulator is a great mystery to me but seems it should not change the location of the shift, but rather smooth or harden the shift. My next culprit would be the valve body and/or governor. Governor seems less likely since it's mainly a gear and pump spinning to deliver the working pressure.

Often valve body problems are sticking pistons causing delayed or random shift patterns. Yours is the opposite though I suppose this is possible too if the springs/valves have gone bad on the inside.

I'm just guessing here, but as long as you got a modulator on the way, give it a try and if it doesn't work I'd start to suspect the VB.

It depends on the type of cable though, theres the 90 degree unlock type and theres the one with the 4 tab clips on the inside (like on my 82 CD i just did). I had to drop the pan, but not the valve body and pop the clips from the inside. absolutly no room to work so good luck.