Just found a broken cable - it was attached next to the throttle cable on the lever on the side of the trottle bottle, but its broken right there.

It looks like it runs from there down to the transmission - so my guess is its some sort of kickdown? cable for the auto tranny?  How important is this?  Could it be the cuase of my need to drive in 1st gear for a mile or two in the mornings before the auto shifts properly?   

It seems to accelerate fine (and gets 23-27mpg) even though that cable is broke - so I was just wondering if it would be worth the trouble to replace it.

Thanks,
-Scott

Yes, that's the kickdown cable, it helps
the trans to go into 1st or 2nd  gear at
low speeds, say cruising at 35-40 MPH
and you floor the accelerator.

And yes it could cause your trans to shift
into higher gears at low speeds, making
you manually shift the trans. I would fix it,
the slipping of the clutches in the trans will
wear them out much sooner.

Wild

BTW welcome to the board

Just found a broken cable - it was attached next to the throttle cable on the lever on the side of the trottle bottle, but its broken right there.

It looks like it runs from there down to the transmission - so my guess is its some sort of kickdown? cable for the auto tranny?  How important is this?  Could it be the cuase of my need to drive in 1st gear for a mile or two in the mornings before the auto shifts properly?   

It seems to accelerate fine (and gets 23-27mpg) even though that cable is broke - so I was just wondering if it would be worth the trouble to replace it.

Thanks,
-Scott

Mine is not working either, I just noticed it over the weekend. Does anyone have any info on changing these?

Dude, are you in for a treat
You have to drop the pan on the
trans, and that means drop the front
drive shaft, It's a total PITA, while you
have the pan off the trans, weld a drain
plug into it, it keeps the trans fluid out
of your armpits.

You probably should get a filter and a
tube of Ultra Grey Silicone, the cork pan
gaskets are crap, all cork gaskets will
leak in 3.5 months  , skip the cork crap
and go straight for the grey silicone.

Have fun, I know I did

Wild

Dude, are you in for a treat

What he said ... dropping the pan is a PITA. There is nothing like burnt tranny fluid in your hair!

I'd also suggest a bag of kitty litter at the ready to capture the spillage. I so wished I'd put a drain plug when I did mine last winter. I get to experience the joy once more, but now I've wised up ...

one more thing ... when you disconnect the front driveshaft, DO NOT pull it free from the tcase. Just bungy cord it outta the way or else you will also be changing your tcase fluid at the same time 

   Ya that too.

Mark the front flange position, I got a viberation
after I dropped the front shaft the first time

Wild

OK - got a new kickdown cable from a chevy dealer, got filter kit and tranny fluid, pulled up on wheel ramps, slid under, followed the old kickdown cable down - but it goes out of sight into an unreachable area on top of the transmission...

and looking at the new kickdown cable, it wasn't really clear how the tranny end of the cable attaches

so - anybody who has replaced one of these:  how do you get the old cable out and the new cable into the tranmission?  is it evident once you drop the pan?  is it held in my some sort of clamp on the inside?  what about getting the new cable into (what I'm gussing is a whole) on top of the transmission - is that reachable without dropping the entire tranny?

part two - I've got some sort of rubber hose with a pencil plugging it sticking up next to the charcoal canistor - any chance this is some sort of vacume line running from the transmission that might be causing the no shifting out of first until warmed up problem?  if so - where would such a line normally be attached?  (hoping for easy fix to shifting problem...)

Thanks,
-Scott

Here's what I found in the '96 Tracker (GM) FSM:

The EVAP cannister (the one on the passenger inside fender on NA vehicles) has two connections on the top.  One goes back to the gas tank and one goes to to a purge valve unit below the thermostat casing on the intake manifold.  The purge valve should also have a vaccuum line to the intake manifold and an two-wire electrical connection.




Above is a picture of the two ends of the cable.  The lower pic shows the "TV" cable
(the "kickdown" cable) held in place by a bolt apparently on the driver's side (or left side facing forward) of the transmission above the pan.  The manual leads me to believe that this is the way the three-speed cable is connected.  However, this may be how the cable is connected to the outside of the transmission case for both types of transmissions.



This picture shows, I believe, what the other posters are talking about -- the "TV" cable terminating inside the pan.  Note the instructions below the picture describing how to get there, which pretty much describes Wild's post.

Hope this helps!

 

ack - thanks!  its a lot clearer with the pic, and now I see the need to get a real FSM... the Hayne's manual lost me at step:

5 "Using a screwdriver, pry the cable from the transmission case and disconnect the inner cable from the valve." 

-- which should read more like --

5 "Using a socket wrench, remove the cable retaining bracket (tranny top, driver side), then drop the pan and disconnect the inner cable from the valve."

ack - thanks!  its a lot clearer with the pic, and now I see the need to get a real FSM...

I'm working to get my copy of the FSM into PDF format  (wink-wink, nod-nod!)

In the meantime, one pops up on eBay for cheap.  I got my 2-volume set for 40 bucks, I think...

OK - sun up to sun down...

Pull up on ramps
Dropped the front drive shaft (white out mark, bungee out of way)
Dropped the transmission pan (furry magnet, visable metal flecks... cleaned it up)
 Couldn't see kickdown cable end inside
 Traced kickdown cable - goes in above tranny on passenger side
   Removed retaining brackt - just like in FSM pic above
   Couldn't get cable to come out - makes sense - end is still hooked inside
   Pulled on cable - could see bar with spring around it move
    Could not see where cable connects to bar that moves
 Removed filter - no help
 Said WTF started removing everything bolt I saw
   Removed stuff with electric wires to it first
   Removed thing with small metal hoses going to it
 Dropped big steel part - contains moving stuff - has maze on inside
   Now can see tranny maze above - scraped old filter off
   Still no help - can't see where kickdown cable end connects to cam that it moves
     Looks like its incased in steel - must only be accessable from the top or during rebuild
 Start putting it all back together - new filter over between the maze pieces
   Lift up heavy bottom maze piece, hook in some lever connecting rod like it was
   Bolt on heavy bottom maze piece
   Bolt everything else back on just like it was (at least as I remembered it...)
   Install new transmission filter and filter gasket
   Install new pan gasket / bolt pan on
 Bolt front drive shaft back up - aligning white out marks
 Rig old kickdown cable so its out of the way - leave for whoever rebuilds tranny
 Pour 3 quarts of new tranny fuild in
Jump in, turn the key, cranks
Push on brakes, reach for gear selector...
!|removethispart|@#|removethispart|@$%  Won't move out of Park.
 Tug on it.
 Pull on it.
 Cuss a while.  Learned to check gear selector before bolting pan on and poring in fluid.
Crawl back under
Drop drive shaft again
Drop pan again - get hair red headed all over
Look for anything out of place - all looks like it did when I dropped the pan.
Stare in disbelief -  realize I shouldn't have removed anything but the fluid filter.

Any ideas??? 

Any way I can at least get this thing in neutral so I can have it towed to a tranny shop when I get the money for a rebuild?

I didn't have to remove all that
stuff when I changed mine.

Ohh man, I wonder what is out of place,
it sounds like the shifter cable is off of the
outside selector, or you took somthing off
inside that selects the gears.

All that aside, drop the rear driveshaft
and get a tow over to a trans shop, I don't
think you need a rebuild, just the cable replaced
and fix what went wrong on your repair

Wild

Great story...lots of mystery, drama and a "to be continued". But vaguely familiar...

Yay! (sorta)
Got it off the ramps and moving again...
  Dropped the drive shaft
  Dropped the pan
  Dropped the filter
  Dropped the bottom half of the "maze"
    Stared at it awhile
    There is a plunger rod that moves in and out of the "maze" bottom
    It connects to the transmission with a bent pin to this notched pie that
      moves when you change the gear selector.  I had put the bent pin in with
      the rod all the way IN when bolting the bottom of the "maze" up.
    So when trying to move out of park, it cause the rod to slide back and hit a wall.
    Installing the "maze" with the rod all the way out, the gear selected could once again move.
  Messed all my gaskets up removing this time, didn't have replacements.
  Still couldn't get the old kickdown cable end out from the top.
  Put it all back together with the old gaskets, some broken, some pieces missing, etc...
  Lost a small BB that was sitting in between the two halfs of the "maze" -
     searched for it with the transmission pan magnet - never found it...
  Got the transmission stuff together, got the pan back on
     (using old gasket - no new grey silicone this time - out of it..)
  Poured in two quarts of new tranny fluid on hand, poured in a quart of used tranny fluid
Backed off the ramps, drove around the yard, got on the road
Wouldn't shift out of first (as before - still cold)
Made it about a mile and it didn't want to go forward in first - put it in second - made it home.

wfew -   

Now I'm trying to decide on trying it all over again next weekend, after getting new gaskets and fluid and trying to find a replacement oversized BB, or just going ahead and having it towed and rebuilt and being done with it.