Hi Everyone, thanks for looking.

I'm a bit stuck here. The automatic shift lever on my 93GXE no longer releases when I push in the break pedal. To get it into drive, I have to push the little manual release at the base of the shift lever.

I no longer hear that little click sound I used to when I press the pedal, so I assume it's some mechanism near the pedal or something?

A few months ago I had my master cylinder replaced, but I've never had this problem before.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Matt

 

mine does the same thing, and i've just kindof accepted it. I haven't been able to shift properly out of park for months now, because i'm too lazy to fix my own.

but what I do know is it's all electrical. i've got to go to work now but someone here ought to be able to either post up the page(s) out of the FSM about how to troubleshoot it or something. Basically there's a green box in your passenger-side kick panel (the wall panel just forward of the speaker in your passenger door) and that determines whether or not to acutate the little solenoid to unhook the button so you can get out of park. If all its 'conditions' aren't met, no worky. So somewhere along the line you've got some kind of switch or sensor that isn't relaying one of the following messages: car's in park, shifter button is not pushed, car is on or at least the ignition is in the ON position, brake pedal is depressed.

I can't see any reason why it'd be your master cylinder.

 

The solenoid has crapped out...I've got a spare shifter assembly sitting around if anyone is interested in a working replacement..

 

I assume you mean the solenoid is there in the shifter assembly. So, can the solenoid be replaced, or do I need to replace the whole assembly? I'm guessing it's the assembly, or else you wouldn't have mentioned the replacement you have available.

 

Just the solenoid can be replaced. You don't need to replace the whole shifter assembly. Of course, that's assuming it is the solenoid. It could also be the relay that is behind the kick panel on the passenger side.

Here is more reading on the shift lock than you might ever want to do courtesy of my faulty shift lock from a few months ago:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=505625

 

Brilliant. That was definately relevant. I'll get in there today and have a look. Sounds like I either need to clean any gunk out from around the solonoid rod or to replace it. Either way, I'm headed in the right direction.

Those two videos from the other thread were extremely helpful. Kudos to MyGreenMax94.

I'll post my results.

Matt

 

I may be interested in your assembly (assuming it includes the solenoid.) Can you email me? gerter@gmail.com

I got my solenoid out and it certainly doesn't look dirty or gummed up. So, I guess it's either a bad solenoid, a bad relay or something mysterious. Am I right there?

The stealership wants 85 for the solenoid and has to special order it. Bah. No taking back if it's not the problem. So, I figure I might try replacing the relay first, and see.

Matt

 

I'm a huge idiot.

After taking the whole thing apart, and putting it back together, I was sitting in the car thinking about what I might have missed. I stepped on the brake and noticed that the brake lights weren't working.

I replaced the fuse, and now everything works. I'm embarrassed that I didn't check this first!

I did learn a lot about the car though, and got some overdue cleaning done in the dark places of the maxima.

Thanks for everyones help.
Matt

 

You're so lucky though! My lights work but my shift still doesn't unlock.