Q re 95 cabrio shift relay lever

All of a sudden, my '95 Cabrio has lots of play in the shifter. In any
gear, I can move the shift lever back and forth a few inches without any
resistance.

Looking at the shift lever end of things, nothing looks loose or broken.

At the transmission end, though, I see a small (1/2" diameter) splined thing
that looks sort of like a gear, at the end of the rod that goes to the shift
lever. When the shift lever is moved back and forth, this thing pushes or
pulls on either side of a U-shaped bracket about 2" wide, that is connected
to the linkage to the transmission.

Based on trying to decipher the diagram in the Bentley guide, my guess is
that this thing is the "relay lever", and that it is supposed to be about
the size of a golf ball; and that what I am seeing is the metal part at the
core of the golf ball, the plastic ball itself having cracked and broken
off.

Can someone tell me if this sounds right? How big should the ball at the
end of the relay lever be, and what should it look like?

Thanks!

"Walter Harley" > wrote in message
...
> All of a sudden, my '95 Cabrio has lots of play in the shifter. In any
> gear, I can move the shift lever back and forth a few inches without any
> resistance.
>
> Looking at the shift lever end of things, nothing looks loose or broken.
>
> At the transmission end, though, I see a small (1/2" diameter) splined
> thing that looks sort of like a gear, at the end of the rod that goes to
> the shift lever. When the shift lever is moved back and forth, this thing
> pushes or pulls on either side of a U-shaped bracket about 2" wide, that
> is connected to the linkage to the transmission.
>
> Based on trying to decipher the diagram in the Bentley guide, my guess is
> that this thing is the "relay lever", and that it is supposed to be about
> the size of a golf ball; and that what I am seeing is the metal part at
> the core of the golf ball, the plastic ball itself having cracked and
> broken off.
>
> Can someone tell me if this sounds right? How big should the ball at the
> end of the relay lever be, and what should it look like?

Followup, for the archives:

The guess was correct. The shift relay lever looks like a metal shaft about
8" long, with a "golf ball" projecting out on a little arm at the midpoint.
The "golf ball" is about 1.5" in diameter, and is on an axle so it is free
to rotate. The exterior of the "golf ball" is made of some sort of
relatively soft, transparent urethane-like material. The interior is a
harder white plastic, with splines that presumably serve to attach the
exterior to. In my case, the exterior material had apparently hardened,
cracked, and broken off, leaving only the interior part.

The replacement part cost about $30, and installation (by a friend in his
backyard shop) was $40. I probably could have done the installation myself,
but it's a bit hard to get to, kind of between the engine block and the
firewall.