2000 Caravan Shifter Problem

Went to take off today and found that I can shift up from park to R, N, D,
3, 2, 1 but can not go back. Popped the hood and grabbed the shift lever on
top of the tranny and I can shift it back to P manually and can use the
column lever to shift back down to 1 but then can't go back. The shifter
column lever then goes "soft" when the gear is actually in 1, like it is
doing nothing which of course it isn't.

Where do I start looking to fix this problem? Was going to start with
taking the steering column cover off 1st????

If it matters the van was in an accident last December with low speed front
end damage ($5K CAD of damage). (everything pushed forward up to motor).

Thanks in advance.

Gary

 

Looked under the dash and could see the end of the cable. Found that it
worked there too. Went back under the hood and could see that there is a
bracket on the firewall that holds the cable. There is a plastic "unit"
that is attached to the cable. When the shifter shifts down half of the
unit moves back with the cable which it shouldn't you can clearly see that
it is broken. It looks like it was partially broken which I am sure
happened in the accident and it was only a matter of time before it
completely broke apart. Unfortunate that the body shop did not catch it
before I got the van back. I have an appointment to bring the van back in
on Wednesday and see if they will repair it as part of the original damage.

I imagine that replacing the cable is not a cheap job.