Help needed. It won't shift when I move the shifter.

[darkrider7589]

I drove to work fine this morning. When I left I drove to the office parked left it running and went inside to clock out. When I jumpd back in my van (92 ford aerostar 4.0L E4WD) I heard and felt a faint soft pop from the steering column/dashboard as I shifted. The shifter is floppy now. It still moves the needel as you move it and I can turn the key but can't take it out. My question is what is inside there that could have broke? I know there's the cable and probably sumthin that changes the movement of the shift lever to pull/push of a cable? Is there away I can rig it to drove it less then a mile back to my shop to work on it?

 

[gcpommom]

This happened to me last year...I ended up calling a tow truck, and the guy crawled under my van and adjusted something so I could drive it to the shop, and when I got there, they came out, crawled under it and put it into park. It wasn't the cable that broke on mine, it was a rod that runs down the steering column (can't remember what it is called). It tends to break easily from what I've read. They replaced the entire steering column with a used one from the junkyard, said it would be cheaper than replacing the broken parts piece by piece.

Judy

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Have somebody look under the vehicle at the driver's side of the transmission while you shift gears to see if the shift linkage is moving.

 

[darkrider7589]

So called AAA yesterday morning had them piggyback it to my shop I tore the cluster out and the plastic round the column. I found the silver rod that connects the shifter to the cable snapped bout half way down right in the center. So plan is to hit the junkyards next week. I'll havta drive the company truck