What is more unnerving than Transmission Problems? When the transmission starts doing something weird and the repair costs start circulating in my head it gets me thinking this may be the end of this vehicle. But, as the initial reaction starts wearing off, I start analyzing the issue, and look at it rationally I realize that I picked one of the vehicles with the best reliability. So, is it really that bad?
The first symptom happened at the grocery store this morning. I shifted into reverse to back out of the parking spot but the engine just revved instead of moving the Truk, *not* in gear. But then the transmission fell into reverse and the Truk started moving with a klunk. Right as this happened my mind is already spinning with WTF is it now? Then I didn't have any problems until the next time I drove the Truk.
The next time I drove the Truk everything was fine until we parked at home again. I shifted to park, but the transmission was still in reverse. At this point the shifter was doing nothing. I could move it to any position, but the actual transmission remained in reverse. I wound up shutting off the Truk in reverse, and setting the parking brake to keep it in place.
When the Truk is in gear it runs completely normally, and the issue is in shifting to the gears. After pondering this for a moment I figured it must be a shifter issue, and not the transmission. Then I dug into the diagnostic materials, and found some common problems. It turns out this is a problem with a lot of different makes and models. The automatic transmission shifter bushing issue is pretty common, but I have never had it happen to one of my vehicles.
The repair is fairly easy. You have to get to the base of the shifter. So, you need to remove the trim around the shifter. In this case you can get to the linkage by removing that one trim piece. In front of the shifter, and down a little you'll find the linkage. Then it is just a matter of removing what is left of the old bushing, and installing the new one.
