[jwight]

What makes you think the smart has a shifter cable? The shifter on the 451 is "shift by wire" - no mechanical connection to the transmission. The only cable is for the parking pawl.

Location

The electronic selector lever module control unit is
located in the center console.
Task
The electronic selector lever module control unit
records the shift requests of the driver.
The shift positions “N”, “R”, “+” and “” are
detected by Hall sensors in the electronic selector
lever module control unit and are read and evalu
ated by the electronics in the electronic selector
lever module control unit. The signals corre
sponding to the shift lever positions are trans
ferred to the automated manual transmission
control unit.

 

[jwight]

My guess is it's the parking pawl cable.....

 

[jwight]

"The 451 DEFINITELY has shift by cable - not by wire." Not the case. The cable you are referring to is the parking pawl cable. The shifter uses Hall effect sensors to determine the position of the shift lever, and that information is transferred, via the Transmission Control Unit (TCU), to the two shift motors mounted on the transmission.

Or, per The Introduction to Service manual:

The electronic selector lever module control unit records the shift requests of the driver. The shift positions “N”, “R”, “+” and “-” are detected by Hall sensors in the electronic selector lever module control unit and are read and evaluated by the electronics in the electronic selector lever module control unit. The signals corresponding to the shift lever positions are transferred to the automated manual transmission control unit.