Console cluster (and shifter repair)

[06T200]

While driving my Orange LS I found some funky shifter action, and have read other posts about a spring breaking, and I needed to pull the console for some detail work to clean the car anyway. So I pulled the console out, and took apart the shifter to get to the spring. It is a small spring about 3/4" inch long, and holds the shifter shaft vertical when in park. It pulls the shifter to the driver side to push on a sensor that allows the key to be removed. So when the spring breaks it makes getting the key out kind of a hassle, and just flops around when put into park.

I pulled the spring yesterday so I will hunt for a generic replacement at the hardware store, here are a couple pics I shot this morning, please ignore all the dirt, it was super nasty in there! lol Takes about ten minutes to get into it, the first mystery was how to get the shift knob off, I had to unscrew the chrome trim at the bottom, this let the ball turn a bit, and I was able to get it off in one piece. Then I carefully pulled the shift trim plate (mine was already broken on one side, so it will get some epoxy on reassemble to fix) then I was able to remove 4 bolts that hold the upper cover of the shifter housing, then the spring is right there attached to the shaft, and clips to a plastic tang.

I will try to snap a pic with the new spring in place, I failed to get a pic of the broken spring before I pulled it out.