Moved to General Tech Chat.

Yes, the lever would move even if cable broken/detached.

Check that first.

 

thanks i will do that
does the cable attach on the transmision on the speed sensor

 

Yes cable attaches there but no, that is the trans range/neutral switch.............sounds like since you changed the shifter you have been going backwards, the shifters really don't break and can rebuilt with maybe $5 in washers and a bit of work. Cable is usually far more the issue there.

I bent a shifter handle like 20 degrees out of straight when resting my hand on it during an accident, simply rebent it back straight and been used now since 2008. The shift interlock solenoid was removed off the bottom as well. Shifter at first did not even move and locked up but five minutes work and working perfectly then.

With new cable it has to be adjusted so trans and shifter both in exact same position. The cable has a lock ring that then gets locked to preserve that adjustment.

 

im following you on this
the switch on the sensor went bad in the car on the shifter
so i put a new unit in
it did the trick car shifted out of park and no issues
now tonight i put the car in park and it never actually came out of drive
i turned the car off and it wont start
like it thinks it is in drive still
imm so confused any idea what i should look at first

 

The trans, shifter and neutral switch must all be in neutral dead centered at the same time or no start and trans acts up since in between gears. The no start can be from messed up cable not having neutral switch in neutral, if so it's not in park correctly either and a no start there from that. What the neutral switch does, kill starting when trans could possibly be in gear, the car can start up to run through a garage wall or over people.The neutral switch has slightly slotted holes to center it to trans manual linkage. Once adjusted it bolts down solid.