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A few months ago I had wrapped up some shopping at Walmart, with my son, and was leaving when I discovered that my car would not shift gears…

There’s a much longer story here but I’ll shorten it up considerably. A buddy of mine met us there and helped me get it going so we could drive it back to my place and work on it. The failure was very simple – the piece of plastic that connects the shifting cable to the top of the transmission had failed.

Unfortunately, a few days later I learned that a simple, universal part wasn’t so universal.

In the end, I had to do a bit of research and (this is also a shortened version of a longer story) I found the part that I needed at a transmission repair shop. I was able to borrow a neighbor’s car to get the part. In the end, this tiny piece of plastic, a grommet identified as part T74498-1A, costs me about $20. But without it, the car won’t move.

Note that before you rush out to purchase one for your vehicle, you should verify this is actually what works with your car. I’m uncertain if every 2008 Chevy Impala LT will use the same part.

At the time that I’m writing this post I only found one item on Amazon for this (just under $8). I did not order from this shop, so I do not know anything about the actual product or service but the image and part number match: Teckpak T744981A Shift Cable Repair Grommet

I was unable to find this part at the more common auto parts stores, that day, thought it’s possible that I overlooked it as I did not have the part number at the time.