My turn screw-up

[Srgnt Billko]

This might take a little pressure off Clark - but it is a little hard to follow. KFC drive through for lunch $3.23. Pulled up to the delivery window, put it in park. I had a five dollar bill and dug through the console tray in my Cherokee for the change. Got my lunch, paid, and got my $2 change. Went to put it in drive and it only went from park to reverse and stopped. I tried a couple times - but wth, it's a '95 with lots of miles on it and I assumed the linkage jammed. Nobody behind me so I backed it out of the way, turned it off and had my lunch. I have roadside assistance / towing but I was hungry - not in a hurry. Lunch finished - I figured I should try it once more before I called the 800 number. No luck. But then I looked closer at the console and there was a little (1/2" dia by 2" long) black plastic tube that had been in the change tray and it was now perfectly placed to block the shift lever from moving past reverse. My Jeep is a little cluttered (dirty) and it blended right into the console. Can you imagine if I had actually called the road-side assistance people ? Really close to be really embarassing. So Clark - you are not alone.

[Jim]

that was a good story. glad you did not call.

[Clark]

I've got a '94 with 185k, a black tube would blend in perfect while resting in that shifting groove. I pulled in for gas on day and it would not run/start, (I sat at the gas station for 2hrs) right after I filled up, got it home and it would not start 60% of the time, opened the hood and pulled all the fuses and relay's one at a time and reinstalled them. also soldered two broken wires at the drivers side door hinge.(AntiTheft ignition issue)? It runs much better now and I get 1.5 better mpg used to be 14 now 15.5, My jeep is almost as fickle a Kathy is, She only likes premium or better too, Yes Kathy and the Jeep. :-)

Clark

[willshak]

on 9/12/2007 9:39 PM Srgnt Billko said the following:

I did something similar one time. It was a 1968 Mustang. The automatic floor shifter was in a slot that had rubber pieces on both sides of the slot that was supposed to act like some sort of covering for the mechanism. There was no boot around the shifter. Fishing for some change one time, a quarter dropped into the gap between the rubber pieces, preventing shifting, and requiring that the shift housing be removed to get to the quarter.