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Stuck in park

Started by Furby, September 24, 2005, 06:48:58 PM

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Furby

My kid brother has a 1993 Ford Escort sitting here stuck in park.
It has a manual release but that is not working. Went through the book and have checked AutoZone's manuals but nothing is working.
My Mom was driving it from time to time up and down the road, but it would sit for a few weeks in between. At one point she got in and it was stuck.
The battery has power and we jumped it just to make sure.
No blown fuses.
It also won't turn over.

Any ideas?

Fla._Deadheader

All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

SwampDonkey

Had a John Deere that was a pain to shift one time. I think my brother got pithed and kicked the shifting lever hard enough to break it off. Had to weld it back on. :D

I wonder if she's dry of trannie oil ??? My '98 dodge has a trannie oil pan that was almost rusted through. When we had it off we shoved a jack knife through the rust.  ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

eldorado

Have you tried shifting it out of park with your foot on the brake? 

Furby

Yup, just about ripped the shifter off!
Rocked the car as well, no good.
What really gets me is I don't know if the stuck tranny is causing it not to turn over.
I can't really jack it up where it is, and can't shift it to drag it to pavement.

This is a good little car with no rust (rare for MI), and something like 50 or 60k on it.

Rockn H

If it is stuck in park and the starter want do anything, the ignition cylinder on the column may be broke.  Ford has had bad luck with these.  I've helped a few freinds change theirs out.  Our '93 chevy suddenly didn't want to go in drive and then wouldn't go in park, it was a broke ignition switch in the column.

Furby

The shifter is between the seats, does that matter?

farmerdoug

Ford has a neutral safty swicth.  If it is not in park or neutral it will not let the ignition switch engage the starter.  Can you turn the igniion swicth?

Farmerdoug
Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

Furby

Yup, no problem.
Lights on the dash and stuff come on, but not the starter.

A girl I worked with a few years back went out to her car to drive to work and couldn't get it out of park.
I asked if it had a manual over ride and she didn't know. She had it towed to a shop, they opened up the center console and got it working. She had spilled a drink down there a couple days before and it gumed things up. It was below freezing when she tried to go to work and the shop said that it had froze in place.

That didn't happen this time. ::)

GareyD

A friend had the same car...it stuck a lot..did you find the tranny override??

If not ya might try this....

You should see a little flap that is made of plastic just to the right of the gearshift. Pry the cap up with a small flathead screwdriver or something, and there will be a button directly inside the hole. Stick something (we used a straightened paper clip) into the hole and depress the button... then shift. Maybe you have to press the button AS you're shifting, I can't really remember, but that is the transmission over ride switch bypass.

Does the brake lights come on when you press the brake...if not check the brake switch...switch might not be telling the tranny the brake is pressed??

Does the reverse lockout button press down easily...might not be dropping the pawl below the catch at the bottom of the shifter??

Maybe try unhooking the linkage at the tranny and seeing if it will shift by hand...cable might be bound??

Do ya have a baseball bat or a heavy hammer?? Probably won't start the car, but after ya threaten the bejesus outta it, it might make ya feel better :D :D
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends, if they're okay, then it's you.

Furby

Yup, the manual over ride/tranny over ride is what I tried. Right side of the shifter. Followed the directions in the book, and then made my own, didn't do any good.
The button slides and you can feel it moving something, but you still can't shift.

Not sure on the brake lights. Will check that when I get back over there.

The lockout button "seems" to be working.

Can't get under the car where it's at. There are a pair of ruts from the tires so the low sitting car is even lower. ::)


farmerdoug

You can start the car by turning the ignition to run and jump the starter seliniod and the engine will turn over.  But if it is not out of gear it will take off on you.  But that will not help your shifing problem.  I would disconnect the shifter from the tranny if the tranny will shift easily then it is between there and the shifter, if not then it is in the tranny.  It could be the linkage or the brake safety switch.

Farmerdoug
Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

Ianab

It will be electrical  ::)

Double check the fuses, my Dad's Nissan kept doing it - blowing one of the fuses supplying power to the interlock and it locked out the transmission / starter.

If it's not the fuses check for bad connections around the fuse panel and the switches.

And I HATE chaseing wiring problems like that too  >:(

Good Luck

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Fla._Deadheader

All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Furby

 :D :D :D
Not my car. ::) ::) ::)

Fla._Deadheader

All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Furby

If it wasn't such good shape..............


I should add my Dad went through another one last week. ::)
Made it longer then we thought he would with the truck. ::) ::)

Rockn H

If none of the other stuff works, I would check that the mechanical ignition switch (that you put the key in) is working the electrical ignition switch.  There will be a rod running down the top of the column to the electric slide switch also on the column but down towards the bottom where it goes through the firewall.

Furby

Actually had a micro switch go out in my Mom's Passat. It was in the ingnition switch, and was goint to be a real pain to fix.
Took a couple pieces of wire, and a rocker switch and added it.
Now you turn the key and then hit the switch untill it starts, then flip the switch off. Been like that for years know.
Seems different then back then, but it may just be because they are different cars.
I'll take a look.

beenthere

Similar thing happened to my 2002 Trailblazer, and it was a bad ignition module. The car stalled in town on a street and I naturally put it in Park to restart it. It acted like the battery was dead, the cops ordered it towed off the road, after trying to jump start it. It (long story short) turned out to be a bad ignition switch that caused a lot of headache that day.
Had to remove the console to get at the cable that held it in Park.
New switch, 5 minute change, and good to go.
Just a thought.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

ScottAR

I guessing you tried it but here goes anyway... 

Put the key in the ignition and turn it to the first click (not run) and then try it...  Mom's taurus did somthing similar.  A switch on the brake pedal went out.   I found out the hard the cruise disconnect doesn't work when said switch is bad.   

I nearly drove up the behind of another car when I stepped on the brake and the engine reved to maintain cruise speed...  ::)
Scott
"There is much that I need to do, even more that I want to do, and even less that I can do."
[Magicman]

gary

here is a simple way to fix it buy a dodge :D :D

Ernie

On the upside  Look at the fuel savings :) :)
A very wise man once told me . Grand children are great, we should have had them first

Tom

But the MPG rate sure goes down. :D

Furby

Ok, I have not talked to my brother since I put this thread up, so I was a bit surprised to see him working on it when I stopped by today.
Seems he opened up the center console and freed things up. ::)

Got to looking at it and it still wouldn't turn over, hmmmmm.
After playing around a bit, my Dad's cousin who was over, decided to chek the neutral saftey switch.
Took the linkage off and found out my brother busted the cable/rod someplace under the dash. He said he had it in neutral and pushed it a bit. We found that the tranny won't shift by hand. Had to put a socket on the linkage and rotate it that way. Found neutral or park and she started right up. So FarmerDoug got it!

Now I know we need to replace the cable or what ever broke, but anyone have any idea why we can't shift the tranny by hand?
We sprayed some stuff on it to try and loosen it up, but it looks like it's mostly alum. and I'm not sure it'll help.

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