zourtney

Short story: the (auto) gear shift mechanism gets stuck in "P". Must put a screw driver into "Shift Lock" hole to disengage.

Long Story: I've been dealing with this issue for about two years and a half now. At first it was sporadic and I could hear the solenoid clicking. A long time ago I conceded to sticking a screwdriver in the console every time I wanted to get out of park, calling it my "low level security device." This is all well and fine, but it's getting tiresome, and I'm thinking of selling the car some time.

Has anyone opened up the console to clean and/or replace the "Shift Lock" part? (The part that makes you need to put your foot on the brake to shift out of part).

OK.Eric

Speaking of the shift lock... what is it? Why is it located next to the shifter like it's a feature or something?

zourtney

it's the mechanism built in which keeps the car from being shifted out of park without having your foot on the brake. I think it's there so that a tow-truck driver can shift you into neutral without having your car key...

There is a little plastic cover that you can remove (where it says "shift lock"). Just stick a flat-blade screwdriver in there and you'll figure it out.

For me, the little solenoid mechanism (or whatever it is) is sticking. I've seen a few posts about it elsewhere, but nothing too helpful other than "you'll have to take the console apart." Google was fairly useless on the subject matter.

nsnrider

iTrader: (59)

it is not difficult at all, i had this issue on an altima before, I took it apart and adjusted the levers down there by the shift lock solenoid. Once you get it apart, you'll probably see what i'm talking about. Sometimes, the little plastic stopper breaks off and it'll prevent it from getting out of shift lock. You'll have to take it apart to see. What year is your max? I have an auto shifter from my 2000 se parts car sitting on the shelf. Let me know if you want to buy it off me. GL.

zourtney

Mine is a 2000 as well (GXE). Maybe I'll tear into this weekend, it's just that interior molding never seems to go back together quite the same...

I wouldn't need to replace the entire shifter though, would I? I'd be happy enough just disabling entirely.

DansSilverMaxima

My 2001 SE did that from the time I got it. I was able to rattle the shifter around at first, then pull up on it and be able to take it out of park. Then I took the little cover off the shift lock hole and saved it, and just had a bunch of little wood sticks I made in the console to press it with. Then I jammed a tile spacer into the hole to disable it. I had the whole console apart once, followed the cable up to the column, took it out and lubed it. I wanted to take the whole shifter assy out, but it seemed like I would have to drop the exhaust to get to a bolt that held it in place. Couldn't figure it out.

zourtney

DansSilverMaxima, did lubing help it any? I don't want to rip everything apart if it won't help.

Feldman

iTrader: (1)

Sounds to me like the sensor down by the brake pedal might be the culprit here not something in the console.

I'm not familiar with the A/T setup but i assume it is similar to the switch that gets depressed by the clutch and allows the car to start in a manual