{"id":1214,"date":"2013-05-04T11:35:09","date_gmt":"2013-05-04T16:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/?p=1214"},"modified":"2013-05-04T11:53:17","modified_gmt":"2013-05-04T16:53:17","slug":"fix-your-loose-shifter-with-booger-bushings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/fix-your-loose-shifter-with-booger-bushings\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix Your Loose Shifter With Booger Bushings"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a 2005 PT Cruiser that I bought used about 4 years ago.\u00a0 (http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/kurts-new-car-pt-cruiser\/<\/a>)\u00a0 The manual 5-speed shifter was fairly loose compared to any of my previous vehicles, but it seemed to work fine so I didn’t worry about it.\u00a0 Over the past couple years I feel like the shifter has been getting looser over time, so I knew that something was going to give someday.\u00a0 Then suddenly I could not get it to go into reverse.<\/p>\n

My brother in law pointed me to a website, http:\/\/www.boogerracing.com\/<\/a> where they sell transmission bushings called Booger Bushings that were advertised to fix me right up.\u00a0 A set of replacement bushings cost only $22, including shipping.\u00a0 According to the website, these bushings are “injection molded polyurethane with a proprietary molded-in lubricant”.\u00a0 They claim to be significantly stiffer than the stock bushings but are not a “solid” bushing.\u00a0 Before I bought these on the Internet, I checked with my local auto parts store and they did not sell the bushings separately from the shifter cables, which ran a couple hundred bucks.<\/p>\n

\"0\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The shifter cables attach to the transmission underneath the air filter housing in the PT Cruiser.\u00a0 Luckily, they are very easy to get to.\u00a0 Just remove the air filter lid and disconnect the big hose exiting the air filter housing.\u00a0 There is also a small hose that needs to be removed from the air filter housing.\u00a0 Then just lift the whole air filter housing up, rocking it as you tug.\u00a0 It’s held down only by the friction of some feet sticking through some rubber grommets.\u00a0 Very simple.<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, to get the metal bracket out of the way a bit, just remove the two bolts holding it down.\u00a0 It’s easiest to use a ratchet with a long extension for this.\u00a0 This allows you to slide the bracket to the left a few inches to reveal the shifter cable underneath.\u00a0 Now you should be able to clearly see both shifter cable ends along with the bad or missing bushings.\u00a0 In my case, both of the old bushings were completely gone.\u00a0 That explains how I suddenly lost the ability to shift into reverse.\u00a0 Remove the old bushings if they are still there.<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Booger Bushings are designed with a lip at the top that snaps very solidly onto the slot of the transmission shaft.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, they are so tight to snap on, that the manufacturer suggests that you put a dab of grease inside to assist in the installation.\u00a0 This photo is looking at the lip from the bottom of the bushing.<\/p>\n

\"3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Simply slide the bushing onto the cable end.\u00a0 The white in the next few photos is a bit of white lithium grease that I added to help with the installation of the bushing onto the slot of the transmission shaft.<\/p>\n

\"4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And pop it onto the transmission shaft.\u00a0 Use both thumbs and push down hard until it snaps into place.<\/p>\n

\"6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s as easy as that.\u00a0 There are also two bushings under the shifter in the cabin.\u00a0 But I did not change those out yet, since these two bushings seems to have tightened it right up and it is a bit more work to get to those bushings under the center console.\u00a0 I will definitely tear into it and change those out if I feel the stick getting loose, though.<\/p>\n

After installing Booger Bushings, it will feel like you have a brand new car if you’ve been driving around with a loose shifter for a while, like I had been doing.\u00a0 Now my transmission feels tight like I’m driving a race car.\u00a0 And it only cost me about 20 bucks and less than an hour’s worth of work!\u00a0 Thanks Booger Racing!<\/p>\n

Kurt<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a 2005 PT Cruiser that I bought used about 4 years ago.\u00a0 (http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/kurts-new-car-pt-cruiser\/)\u00a0 The manual 5-speed shifter was fairly loose compared to any of my previous vehicles, but it seemed to work fine so I didn’t worry about it.\u00a0 Over the past couple years I feel like the shifter has been getting looser […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107,112],"tags":[397,206,205,328],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1214"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1241,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions\/1241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}