Remove early Forester auto shift knob

[cmjmarvin]

These are not as straightforward as you would hope. One would assume that if you remove the two screws on the lower part of the knob, the knob would come right off. Hah.

 

What is then necessary is to remove the push button from the knob. To do this, take a longnose plier and pull the spring clip down and out of the bottom of the push button. WARNING. What will then happen is that the button and its various parts will be shot out of the knob by a spring, and may end up in inaccessible places on the floor. Naturally, NONE of these parts can be purchased without buying the entire knob assembly.

 

SO REMEMBER, when you pull the spring clip, keep your finger on the knob and let loose of it gradually, so it stays in the knob. At this point you can pull the knob up and off the column. And don't lose the spring clip; it's small and easy to lose, and, once again, cannot be purchased, etc. etc

 

I hope I have saved someone a headache with this post.

[SuBrat84]

There is no such place as "inaccessible" in a car if you start taking out stuff... seats are usually only 4 bolts to remove

[jon38iowa]

I just replaced mine; I will add, it is a good idea to put down a sheet as the tiny spring may fly out like mine did, moreover, it is tricky to get the new one installed as the tiny spring is supposed to go in to a rather a small hole in the shift mechanisism.It took me a couple of tries,and unless you get it together perfectly, the shift knob will not work. Good luck.

John