All gears lead to reverse =) 90 accord auto

[L_Loomis]

I've had an old accord that has been sitting. I figured Id clean it up, get it drivable, and donate it to a single mom program or sell it to a kid for their first car for $500 or something, it doesnt really have any problems Id feel bad about handing off to a teenager who wouldnt mind working on this, except...

 

 

The reason my wife stopped driving it was the shifter was getting very stiff, and it was a battle to get it out of park. - thats because there is a little plastic sleeve that lines the shift pole which was coming and preventing the push button from depressing the lever.

 

I noticed after cleaning it up and getting it ready that when placed in park, the car would set to park but after a moment put itself in reverse, (lights still in park of course because the shifter hadnt changed positions in the slot). It drove fine, shifted between gears fine, wasnt lurching like a lot of these old trannies do. The rpm and speed gauges were dropping to 0 when the gas pedal had no pressure on it, however. Anyways,

 

Seems like a problem with the shifter cable - its been sitting awhile, has 171k miles, and was a michigan car so it seems likely that its rusted.

 

 

However, it was possible that due to my wife ramming on the shifter all the time, it was a little out of alignment. I reset it slightly forward, about a turn of the bolt thinking it wasn't *quite* reaching park. After trying that, it began going into reverse in all gears =) Great, I knew these trannies were sensitive and better left alone, but who'd have thought it was that sensitive.

 

Replacing the cable is probably necessary, but is there anything else you think I should investigate first? fluid level is good, of course, but old.

 

 

I was reading around the forums and saw some pointers to solenoids, I dont have any experience with these. Might they have some bearing on this? They control the shifting, right? So this seems like part of the issue as well. I'll see if I can reach these on top of the tranny by jacking it up and putting it on stands...

 

 

 

 

If I cant fix it cheap Ill have to junk it, which would be a shame, but I quit my job to stay home with the baby for the first few years so I cant throw much money into this - but Id love to fix it as I know someone who is less fortunate would benefit from this otherwise great car.

 

 

Whats a ballpark cost on repairing the cable and solenoids? 100? 400?

 

Any advice or help troubleshooting?