ZF 6HP help. Lever falling out of detent , getting stuck

A6 All/ S6 All
#1

Im working on an S6. I had to pull the valve body to replace a couple seals. In doing so I bumped the shift selector all the way forward to the point where it fell off the shift detent spring. The spring sprung up, and you have to push it down with something to get the shift mechanism back on the track. Put it all back together, moved it all the way back which is Park. Key the car on, shifter says P, ok great. I move the gear selector down to S, then start moving it up, it feels notchy and loose. Move it to park, feel something strange, go to move it back down and it is stuck. Also no gear position is indicated.
Looks like it moved too far forward and fell off the detent. But how/why? The sliding position sensor was in its default position in Park, which means physicaly the shifter had to have been in park…and why is it allowed to move too far forward if park was actually park, and not bumped forward that N was P?

I have to take the exhaust pipes off and the pan back off to get to it now, so this time around I want to make damn sure its correct before I put it back together again.

#2

I have never heard of that. There is maybe a chance that you bumped this with the valve body out of the transmission… The only reason I would even think of that would be the possible chance that the valve body might act as a stop for the travel…

Just a thought as I almost always push the lever into P after taking off the shifter cable and I have never had that issue.

let us know what you find

#3

To close this thread: It looks like when I pushed the prawl back in, I did not push it all the way back into its P position. Then when I pushed the ball/sociket connection of the cable on, and finally bolted it to the trans housing, it was just enough to move it over into the N position on the trans while still being in the P position on the lever. Thus when moving it to S mode, it pushed the cable too far forward, falling off the detent.

#4

Great follow up. Thanks for giving some info. I was perplexed on this.