Toyota Repair: stiff gear shift lever, spilled liquids, dish soap

Question
I have a '91 tercel the manual trans gear shift lever has suddenly become very stiff between gear changes.  It got much better for a day or two and now there is very little play at all.  It is even difficult to deterimine neutral with the ususal swing at center. Someone said it might be from spilled liquids

Answer
Yes that's correct, if any soft drink, coffee or anything containing sugar was spilled on top of the shift console it can cause this, it usually takes a while for the sugar to solidify to cause the shift mechanism to start binding up. You can probably fix this yourself, pry out the plastic panel surrounding the shifter and get a spray bottle and fill it with a solution of dish soap and water, spray it into the opening from the left side while moving the shift lever back and forth, it will eventually free up and be back to normal.