Shift knob and steering wheel

AlanS · Post by **AlanS** » 02 Aug 2012, 20:30

2001/ S40.
The button on the shifter knob that you pull in to move it out of gear, sticks. In fact, when going from D to P, it remains in, thus not letting me remove the key from the ignition. Is this a function of the gear shift knob, or something deeper? If you fiddle with the shifter, it will eventually unstick.
Plus...what size is the torx to take off the steering wheel? There are screws in the back to remove the airbag...My horn doesn't work well, I want to change the contact ring.

Post by **jimmy57** » 02 Aug 2012, 21:28

Get WD-40 and spray up in the button on the shift lever. If no parts are broken that will probably do it.

Explain "horn doesn't work well"
The system has a relay, the horns either get power or they don't. Less than ideal contacts in horn buttons would not make it have weak sound.
The contact ring is the contact reel for the air bag system. They are a long ways from cheap.

AlanS · Post by **AlanS** » 02 Aug 2012, 21:40

Explain?....Push horn button, no horn. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. I think that the contact under the steering wheel may be faulty, thus allowing contact at certain times, etc. Taking off the wheel will reveal all.

jefe · Post by **jefe** » 04 Aug 2012, 15:03

There's a kit on IPD website for $38 to fix the sticking shift knob button. Kind of expensive but it seems like it's a common problem for these. I just changed mine out last weekend...was a quick fix and now it works perfect. The button on mine had broken plastic pieces so WD-40 wouldn't cut it.

AlanS · Post by **AlanS** » 05 Aug 2012, 16:39

jefe wrote:There's a kit on IPD website for $38 to fix the sticking shift knob button. Kind of expensive but it seems like it's a common problem for these. I just changed mine out last weekend...was a quick fix and now it works perfect. The button on mine had broken plastic pieces so WD-40 wouldn't cut it.

How do I get into the guts? There is a plastic bezel around the plate that has the Park/Neutral/ Drive, etc. I am afraid to just 'pry' it up...

jefe · Post by **jefe** » 06 Aug 2012, 12:46

The actual shift knob comes off the shifter. Put the shifter in one of the lower gears, grab the shifter with both hands and pull up. The entire shift knob comes off that way.

If you buy the kit, it comes with instructions. Took maybe 20 minutes to swap it out. Really easy.

Before pulling the shift knob off though, you may just want to grab a mirror and inspect the shift button first to see if there are obvious signs of broken pieces.