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will not shift into drive

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Danamckisson1

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Hi All. I have a '98 Challenger 1800 and I can not shift into drive. It will shift into reverse but not drive. Any suggestions?
 
Hi All. I have a '98 Challenger 1800 and I can not shift into drive. It will shift into reverse but not drive. Any suggestions?
Welcome!!

Whatever you do, don't force it. If you break the handle off, it is expensive to fix. Inside the throttle assembly there are some pins that prevent you from shifting when the throttle(s) are up. I assume the pins are working correctly as you can shift into reverse. First check the reverse buckets to see if they are hanging up on anything. If you see nothing obvious, disconnect the cable at the bucket and see if you can move the shift lever. If the cable doesn't move, pull the control assembly out and disconnect the shift cable and see if you can lube it up and get it moving freely.

There are really only three things that it can be:
1. Throttle(s) locking out the shift lever
2. Something blocking the buckets (there is a lock assembly on the back, but that locks it in forward I believe.
3. Cable is bad
 
I have a 97 Challenger (Single Engine) and I just had this problem last week when replacing a throttle cable. I am assuming the Challenger 1800 has a VTS (I have no idea)
Mine was a very easy problem to fix. Mine has a VTS (Variable Trim System) and the cable got wrapped around the Forward - N - Reverse (FNR) shifter. There are two cables from the VTS shfter 1) cable runs from the FNR shifter to the VTS, 2) The other cable actually goes to the VTS. The VTS cable had enough slack in it to catch the FNR shifter. Pull out the throttle levers and take a quick look, you will see it quickly, if you can ge the screws out of the throuttle assembly that are usually stripped.

I hope yours is as easy as mine was... but again, I am not sure if the 1800 has a VTS like mine.

Here is a picture, the green arrow shows where the cable got hung up...
VTS Compensator Cable stuck.jpg

Good luck
 
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