Ford Escape 2013 Transmission Shifter Bushing

thingiverse

Coming back from a shopping trip, I realized my automatic transmission was stuck in sport mode. Trying to get it back into drive proved futile, even though the shifter moved freely. This wasn't good news. Parked the car and shut off the engine to grab something from a local bakery, completely unaware of the interlocks at play. And to add insult to injury, I was just 300 feet away from an auto service center that had already closed for the day. The cold, rainy weather with sleet didn't help matters either. Now my car computer refused to start because it sensed the vehicle was in a drive gear, despite me pushing the shift lever back to "Park" where it locked. Modern cars can be quite the handful, right! This is a true story. So what's the problem here? A major recall was issued this summer for the bushing at the end of the shift cable that connects to the transmission control arm. Over time, the plastic degrades and disintegrates, allowing the end of the shift cable to pop off the post. Not ideal if you want to leave your car in Park. There just enough of the degraded bushing remained for me to reattach the linkage. I was able to move the control arm to the park position, then with the cable back in place, started the engine and carefully moved the shift handle to D before hitting the road. The bushing lasted only long enough for me to get into my garage, where it finally disintegrated into a pile of plastic shavings. Nobody had the part in stock. So, 3D printing came to the rescue! Measuring the open hole in the shift cable link and the size of the center post on the control arm gave me what I needed. A few minutes on CAD software, followed by printing on a TPU capable 3D printer (a Flashforge Finder), enabled me to make a temporary replacement. This is meant only as a temporary fix until I can get to the dealer for the recall repair. **PLEASE NOTE! USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!** As an added measure of safety, use an E-clip on top of the post that projects from the bushing. The flange of the bushing sits atop the cable linkage and is meant to snap over the top part of the post and lock. This **must** be made in a flexible filament like TPU. A rigid polymer such as PLA or ABS will not work. Be sure to test the fit and function before hitting the road.