I've been noticing that when the weather is really humid, my shifter gets very sticky with its side to side movement. If I push it to either side (while in neutral), it will just stay there and I will need to forcibly pull it back to center. It is so bad that I find myself shifting from 2 to 1 instead of 2 to 3 and 4 to 3 instead of 4 to 5. I need to consciously follow the shifting grid to get into the correct gears.

Would this be the linkage under the airbox binding up? Would dousing it in white lithium grease combat this issue?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

on my 2006 mcs, the shifter cable boots under the airbox tore, and was allowing water to seep in.

Hose that sucker down. i was spraying liquid silicone into the broken boots, and it made it nice and smooth.

another place to check is under the ring around your shifter. in there on the actual shifter "box", it seems to be covered in thick white lithium or some sort of white goo. you may not have any on there any more considering your mcs is an 02...

i dunno.. give it a shot. worse that can happen is you have just re-lubricated a part...