| Subject: | transmision park lock |
| Question: | 2000 mirage DL 1.8L automatic trans. for some reason the shift lever will not come out of park. yesterday i could depress the button on top but the lever was hard to shift out of park once out of park every thing was fine even to put in park and take out again. however over night it seems to have forzen up i dont understand today i can not depress the button. is there an electrical link to the brake, and wheeere should i start looking. the car is in excelent shape, no mechanical problems at all has only 68k miles |
| Answer: | Mike, I have heard of this problem before. When your car is in park, it has a safety mechanism which forces you to first depress the brake pedal before you can push in that botton on the shift lever. There is either sending unit or solenoid with signals when the brake is depressed and lets you shift out of park. If that sending unit or solenoid has a problem, it would be very difficult to shift out of park. Another common problem is that when your steering wheel is fully turned, that could cause your button to stick. Also, parking on a hill without using your actual parking brake will put a lot of stress on the mechanism that holds your car in park. It is extremely difficult to pull your car out of PARK when on a hill. Your basic drivetrain warranty has just run out on your car, so taking
it to be looked at by a dealership could be extremely expensive. Have
it inspected by a transmission specialty shop near you. It is a good idea
to have your transmission fluid changed as well. With that mileage, you
are overdue. |