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Ask Smithy Xtra mazda 323 transmission

Sometimes when I select 'Drive' in my 2002 Mazda 323 auto the car doesn't move off. If I move the gear change lever back and forth it then decides to move. Can you help?

It sounds like the bush at the end of the selector cable has broken rather than anything in the transmission itself. If it has broken it normally doesn’t cause a problem when you move from neutral to park or back again, but when you go to select drive it doesn’t pick it up until you move the lever past the ‘D’ position.

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