75 eldo

[dreamkillr]

I have a 75 eldo. The problem is that it won't go into park. All other gears work. On the dash selector the gears are off buy one. How do i fix this?

[76eldo]

The bushings in the linkage wear out on these, leaving a lot of play in the linkage.  Do you mean it won't go into park at all, or just not when the indicator is in the park position.  That is easy to fix, and the linkage is adjustable.  Do you have a shop manual?  That's a huge help when working on these cars.

Brian

[TJ Hopland]

My 73 started doing that (many years ago) after I had the transmission rebuild.  The shop told me that they looked all over and could not find any parts for that linkage and just told me to set the parking brake.  I figured since it worked before that it should work again so just messed with the adjustment.  There is a crank on the frame that is a junction between the rod that comes down from the steering column and the rod that goes to the transmission.  The bushings (or maybe the lack of) in this crank wear and make lots of slop in the linkage.  One end of the crank has a peg with a set screw that locks on one of the rods.  You can loosen that set screw and slide the rod back and fourth until you find the point where park is a full engagement.  On mine it turns out that park works and looks normal but when you go into the other gears you have to pull it past the letter for the trans to lock in but once you reach the detent in the transmission the indicator still points at the proper letter.  Sometimes going from 2-1 does not work but going a bit faster from D-1 works fine.  I use park much more than 1 so I think its much better this way.    Last time I worked on mine I remember thinking that the linkage looked a lot like the size of the bushings for the door hinges and always meant to do some measuring to see if they maybe fit since those are easy to find.   Im sure standard bushings could be made to work from a good bearing supplier.  I now own a lathe so I may look further into this problem this summer when I get my car out of storage.  It looked to me like there was room to take the crank out of the car on my 73.

[dreamkillr]

After further inspection the problem is in the linkage. The bushing or whatever they are called no longer work. When In park n, drive the linkage stays in place. But when I shift into lower gears the linkage comes out of the bracket bolted to the drivers side fender. Here is a pic. Hope somebody can help.

[TJ Hopland]

Most of mine are that bad and they still work for the most part.  The bolt head with the spring washer just below the circle in your pic is the adjustment.    For a quick fix maybe a piece of hose or tubing could be put on the shaft and held in place with a hose camp?  May not last long but should be easy to install because it could be slit.  It would depend on how sharp the edge in the bracket is.  I had lots of ideas on how to fix mine but since I found an adjustment that worked it became a low priority.   

I know a guy that parts out eldos, I may send him a note and see if he ever sees them that are not worn that bad or if he has any ideas on how to repair them.

None of my eldos are close to me at the moment or I would go do some measuring.

[dreamkillr]

I was thinking of using a washer cutting it then crimping it so that the linkage won't come off do you think that might work?

[TJ Hopland]

Its been too long since I looked at them to tell you if that will work. I dont think end to end play is the issue, its the slop in the hole.

I talked to the guy I know and he said that the went to a plastic bushing in 73 and every one he has seen since then have been shot including some cars with less than 50K on them.  He had the same thought I had that maybe the door hinge bushings would fit. 

Here is the company that most stores stock or can order:
https://www.dormanproducts.com/cgi-bin/vm91corp30r/cat_search1.w?sid=0x00e9c093&clt=hwrap1&vsrch_str=&vsrch_cat=Door%20Hinge%20Parts&vsrch_brand=all&vsrch_range=&st_amount=&end_amount=&from_page=search&category_no=1030&sku=&category_list=1388%3A1030&vfrom=&vtime=80919&item_no=

[76eldo]

I would think that some kind of nylon bushing should work.  If possible, remove the linkage, or buy one from a parts car.  Go to a hardware store, or a local auto parts store and look through what the have on hand.

I have a 76 Eldo, purchased from the original owner.  I was given a stack of file folders full of service records.  There was everything you could think of in there.  Dealership repair orders, stuff from local auto stores, all in folders by year, from 1976 to 2000.

One of the dealership work orders mentioned "shift lever has excessive play" and the bushings were replaced.  The car has a crisp, positive click going into each gear.

I would think that someone that also does a lot of trans work (local trans shop?) may have some generic replacement parts that would be close enough.  Even if you took the car to a trans shop, they might be able to come up with a solution.  This stuff is much easier on a lift.

Good Luck,

Brian