How to do Car Transmission Repair with Electrical Tape

This is a temporary fix meant to get you to a location where you can work on the vehicle properly. The specific issue which this article addresses is for if the flex cable pulls out of the pressed socket where the cable hooks onto the transmission. I had to use the technique on a trip home from Santa Monica.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• electrical tape
• shoelace

1. 
    

   Pull all the wires that make up the flexible cable back so that the inner cable can be pushed up against the housing. These wires will be very stiff so this could be difficult. Gloves could also be helpful as the wires are very sharp, but I didn’t have any.

2. 
    

   Push the cable up until it is flush against the socket which it came out of previously. If you don’t get it up far enough you won’t be able to get the car into gear.

3. 
    

   Wrap the wires with electrical tape to get rid of the sharp edges.

4. 
    

   Put strips of tape across the cable and the socket lengthwise. Once you have several of these on there, wrap it around the cable and the socket until they are secured together.

5. At this time, you can test the car to see if it will go into gear. Don’t do it too much though or you could pull the tape off.

6. 
    

   Where the ball of tape is, tie the shoelace very tight just behind it so that it will catch on the wires. Then secure it to an arbitrary part of the vehicle, minding not to put it against anything hot. The tension should be applied so that it is pulling the cable into the socket, not out of it.

7. Drive the car home or to the mechanic.

Tips & Warnings

• Try not to shift whenever possible so that you don’t risk pulling the cable apart again.
• Always keep electrical tape or duct tape in your vehicle for just such an occasion.
• The wires are very sharp and can (will probably) cut you.
• If the shoelace is not tight it will slip off.
• If the shoelace is near something hot, it will burn and break.

[MissNatalie]

on 12/7/2008 I had to read this. I'd heard of duct tape fixing everything, but not using electrical tape. This is a neat trick and will probably come in handy some day. Thank you.

[StacyP]

on 10/29/2008 Cool trick. Reminds me of the days when I used electrical tape to rig just about anything under the hood of my car. Hopefully, it doesn't come to that again.

[KurtKski]

on 10/28/2008 Very cleaver, And didn't have to wait 45mins. for AAA or tow truck. Thanks

[deepthinkin]

on 10/28/2008 This is sooooo...MacGyveresque! Good work! I'd give you 20 stars if there was a way just for having had to do this. :)

[showpup]

on 10/28/2008 It's articles like these that make ehow so valuable. Sharing real life information you may not have known otherwise. I'd be lost if this happened to me. Thanks for sharing so that others like myself may have an option of what to do should it happen to us. 5 *****