Two problems related to manual transmission floor shifter have been reported for the 1998 Saturn SL. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
While parking my 1898 Saturn Sl in a hospital garage, the shift lever went limp without warning. There was no way to operate the transmission. When I removed the console, I discovered that the plastic bushing that connects the manual shift lever to the shift cable was missing. There was no longer any connection between the shift lever and the cable to the transmission. The entire shift cable assembly had to be replaced to fix the problem. Saturn told me that the bushing is made onto the cable rather than being available as a separate part. If this bushing had failed in a traffic situation it could have resulted in an accident. The bushing should be designed such that if it brakes; the shift lever will remain connected to the shift cable and just cause Sloppy shifting thereby warning the driver that repair is required. I still have the old shift cable assembly.
Shifter arm clutch linkage bushing broke while shifting gear.
| Manual Transmission Floor Shifter problems | |
| Transmission Failure problems | |
| Transmission Stuck In Gear problems |