Picture this: after driving 3 hours, you're in Chicago on Walton pulling up of the Drake Hotel. The XF is getting admiring glances from the folks, when you realize you need to back up so you can pull in a spot for the bellman to take your luggage. Cabs honking, friendly single-finger gestures being made, when suddenly, upon pulling upward on the ****, the entire lever, **** and both inner and outer boots came off in my hand!! I didn't even know we had inner boots!

My wife caught, in mid air I might add, a small stainless steel pin about an inch long. Figuring this was a key to the solution, we both started trying to get the pin back in a hole somewhere on the shaft. Got it in, snapped the outer boot into place and impressed the hell out of the bellman. I was, however, less than kind in my praise for DaimlerChrysler.

Needless to say, the dealer will hear of this, but I thought you would all get a chuckle out of this. Wife said the look on my face holding that shift lever was priceless...

 

Hmmm... The exact same thing happened to another member two days ago. See this thread. This is as dangerous as it is embarrassing; someone needs to identify the cause of this unexpected separation and post the solution for all to see. Hopefully there is a simple DIY fix that will cure the problem.

 

Yep, 2 days ago the same thing happened to a guy on his '04. I know now that after reading about this happening twice, I am going to be looking at my shift lever when I put mine away for the winter. I'm kind of surprised to be seeing this kind of thing happening.
By the way, nice move in putting it back in place!!

 

Bonus points to the wife for her stellar catch! How long would you have played with the mechanism if you never saw the pin come out!?!?

 

Holy crap. Now I am scared that MINE will come off...oh wait, I got stuck with an automatic. Kudos to the wife for catching that little pin!

 

Without the pin, the shift **** shaft still fits over the short shaft coming out of the linkage. So you can still hit all forward gears. The **** and outer boot will rotate 360 degrees without that locating pin. The pin orients the **** correctly and permits lifting the ****/shaft for reverse. Not sure what piece keeps the pin from coming out though. There appears to be a spring-loaded plastic sumbit*h that looks like it was supposed to cover the pin, preventing it from escaping, but obviously that didn't work.

Without the pin, I would have been searching for a skinny machine screw (1/8 x 1) but then again if the wife hadn't caught the pin, I wouldn't have even known one was needed. All in all, an eye-opening experience.

 

Happened to me, too, and even to an auto reviewer. Embarrassing is right.

 

There were at least two others who mentioned similar incidents in your thread; that makes at least five now. Did any dealers or DCX come up with any definitive explanations or fixes? This is clearly a major accident just waiting to happen and needs to be addressed ASAP.

 

Figured out the issue with my shifter **** incident. You should go check yours out just to be sure:

1. Pull up your outer boot by pushing it to the right and lifting up the right edge. Then disengage it from the left side and pull it up, exposing the shaft and inner boot.

2. You will notice a black plastic surround, or collar, that is spring loaded. Its purpose is to prevent a locking pin from coming out accidentally. This pin is approx. 1/8" in diameter and 1" long. It locks together the outer shaft which is part of the ****, and the inner shaft attached to the shifter mechanism.

3. The pin length is longer than the diameter of the shaft so it sticks out both front and back of the shaft. This is important, take note.

4. The spring loaded "collar" should be turned so the projecting pin slips into recesses on the collar. The spring loading then "snaps" the collar upward effectively concealing the pin and preventing it from coming out.

5. For some reason, there is a groove in that collar the will press against the pin and it looks like that is a correct positioning. It is not. Turn the collar and make sure the pin projections are well down into the collar recesses.

6. You can easily remove the **** and outer boot as a unit by pushing the collar down and removing the pin. Just make sure that collar is positioned to secure the pin when you reinstall.

I'm sure that when my shifter was replaced under warranty, the tech did not turn the collar enough to secure the pin. Subsequent shifting obviously worked the pin out. You might want to look at yours, particularly if your shifter has ever been worked on or the **** removed.