My 87 Standard 4 door sedan, just began doing this strangeness.

Started engine, moved selector from PARK to DRIVE.
Feel no transmisson engagement. Pushed gas pedal, will not move car. Moved selector back to NUETRAL and the again to DRIVE. Then I did feel engagement.

This happened once or twice before about a week ago.

I cannot ignore this.

Does the transmission need servicing?
Is there something I can buy at local auto parts store, an additive?

Should I take car to Nissan Dealer or transmission
repair company?
Thank you for suggestions. Dave

 

You may have a bad shifter bushing. It's very common on this car, I also have that problem. The way I get it to engage in Drive is to take it down to 2nd and then put it into Drive. Also, since the bushing is bad, it may not go into Park properly. You have to really push it hard into Park to get it to stay there.

The bushing itself is only like $5, but I don't know how to install it, so I haven't bothered with it yet.

-C-

 

 

Isn't the shifter bushing that connects the selector the the shift linkage? Or is it the little pivot point on the selector?

 

The transaxle is selected by a cable. The driver's selector connects to one end, and the transmission shift lever connects to the cable between the transaxle and the firewall below and to the center of the brake master cylinder. The cable comes through the lower firewall and is surrounded by a grommet that seals the opening. It is best seen from under the car, but it is visible from the top if you know what you are looking for. There is lots more room to see it with the air intake ducting removed. There is a delrin bushing between the cable end, which has a hole in it, and the lever, which has a rod sticking out with a retaining clip hole drilled through it. The retaining clip looks like a short, large hairpin. When you remove it by simply puhing it out of the hole with a screwdriver, the cable comes off. The crumbled white plastic-looking thing that comes out is the bushing. Yours may not even be there. You can see that the hole in the cable end is larger than the rod it fits over. The bushing takes up that space. With the bushing gone, there is some small amount of cable movement before the rod on the linkage moves and clicks into a different gear. This is what gives you the shifter imprecision. I found a substitute laying around the garage, but I don't know what it was from. It just needs a cylinder-shaped object with a flange on one end of it that is of the correct diameter and thickness.