Auto Trans Won't Go Back to Park
 

Has anyone had this happen with an SE auto transmission shifter?

I did my morning errands Thanksgiving morning and returned home, parked in the driveway. Tried to put the car back into park. I coudn't get the shifter to move past Neutral. I pushed and pushed but it just wouldn't go into Park. I let the car sit for a couple of hours and tried it again -- still wouldn't shift into Park. Added some K-matic trans fluid (as speced from Nissan) and let the car run for a while. Still wouldn't go into Park.

Yesterday morning (Friday) called dealer and they said bring it on up. It's about a 15 minute drive up there. When I get into the service bay, the car goes into Park! Murphy's Law of car repair hard at work here -- the problem you are having won't show up when you take it to the repair shop!

The service guy said he hadn't seen this before and didn't have any suggestions past a tranny flush / clean. I decided to go for it since it's been a while since I had a flush and the car is at 121K miles. So far, the car is shifting to and from Park without problem.

Anyone have any experience with this?

no real answer for you, maybe the linkage had some dirt stuck on it and the drive knocked it off,

has to be the linkage

Is the linkage internal on an automatic trans or is that something I could get to by crawling underneath the car to see if I could clean?

um were you applying the brake?
I know if you turn the car off while still in D, it doesn't go to P. Has to at least be ACC on if not running.

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Yeah, I had brake pressed -- made sure of that. The car was still running when I tried to shift into Park (foot on brake). It would go only to Neutral but not into Reverse or Park.

Ok, so where is it and how can I get to it to check? What am I looking for? Any info appreciated!

Silverfox04 at www.6thgenmaxima.org
has reground his transmission and a few others, and he said it made of world of difference. Maybe send him a pm and ask him if this was what he was experiencing?!

crawl under the car and look where the shifter is inside the car, the shifter goes through the floor and connects to the transmission, if possible have someone inside shifting it but leave it off/ACC

Shift lock tab on the shifter bezel. Have you ever messed with it?

No, haven't messed with it. As far as I can tell, it's in the same position it's always been since I've owned the car.

Thanks. Weather permitting, I'll give that a look tomorrow.

SOLVED

Had to replace the shift lock unit and a shift control solenoid. I spilled some tea a few weeks ago and it shorted something in in the wiring. :bonk:

:snap:

glad u got it figured out

Yes, I am experiencing the same issue. Sometimes I can drive it around the block and its fine. Presently it is stuck in N or D, in my garage since last night about midnight. When taken to the mechanic, of course nothing is wrong. Any solutions?