in my 87 monte ls when i shift gears the indicator on the cluster doesnt' move. like say if i go from park to drive. its stuck in park. its jus the indicator tho. (the tranny goes in drive) i dont think its electronic so i figured something might be stuck but before i go ripping **** apart i thought i might get some advice. thanks.

 

That happened on my Mom's 86 Olds. Some linkage came loose or broke.

 

Same thing happened to my dad's 85 Cadillac.

 

well thats a step, anyone know how to fix it?

 

The indicator is held in it's position witha set screw. If the screw managed to back out, this could be why the indicator isn't moving?

You need to remove the surrounding bezel of dash cluster. I always tilt the steering column down on my car to get the steering wheel out of the way when I want to remove or install this bezel. After the bezel is off lean down to the driver side of the steering column and look up. You want to look for an allen head set screw. See if it backed out?

There is also a small cable system they used for the shifter indicator on allMonte ('81-88) that if this tiny cable breaks the indicator won't move. Had this very thing happen to my girlfriend's '81 Monte.

 

theres a tiny cable with a clip that attatches to the part of the column that rotates.
SHIFT INDICATOR CABLE MONTE CARLO REGAL 78 87 86 81 88 | eBay
heres a link of the part, if you take off the center piece under the dash youll be able to see it. the looped end attatches to the orange needle behing the cluster. hope this helps.

 

Usually, when the shift lever position indicator stops moving, the little hook on the needle breaks off. The needle is replacable, so getting another one souldn't be a problem. Just make sure that you get the correct one. 1981 - 1985 clusters use an orange needle, 1986 - 1988 clusters use a red one. Hope that helps.