Gear Selection Indicator

Date: 26 Oct 2021

Issue

One part unique to an automatic Cortina is the column mounted gear selector and illuminated gear selected indicator along with the cowling that covers the mechanism. One part that is very easy to break is the plastic pointer that indicates the gear selected that fits up inside the cowling and visible though the clear plastic window. There were significantly less automatic Cortina’s produced so the indicator, housing and column shift mechanisms are fairly rare now.

When removing the steering wheel cowling take great care to avoid breaking your gear selector indicator

It is physically mounted on the gear selector and not in the cowling itself – read below.

Diagnosis

Oops you broke it

Repair

BE VERY CAREFUL REMOVING AND REPLACING THE COWLING AROUND THE STEMS

It is very easy to catch the plastic pin when replacing the cowling and snap the ancient plastic.

The indicator pin itself is a piece of red plastic crimped into a metal sleeve. The sleeve in turn is clipped onto a spade connector with the column shifter itself.

Removing the cowling:

1. Undo the 4 cross head screws that clamp the upper and lower cowling parts together.

1. The lower cowling simply drops away
2. The upper cowling contains an illumination bulb and must be carefully lifted clear, flipped and lowered on to the shelf (or the bulb holder unscrewed and removed, if removing from the car completely).

Viewing the mechanism

Here the replica indicator is seen in position (with the cowling removed)

Close up of the mounting spade connector.

The figure below shows to the left a broken plastic indicator ready for repair, in the middle a metal replica (the pin is a bit ‘stubby’) and to the right an original pin.

The metal replica is much more resilient when it comes to re-positioning a removed cowling.

Parts

Approximate prices from: n/a

Part	Description	Supplier	Cost
	Gear Selection Indicator needle has to be made.