my girlfriend has a '90 max and she has this little lever on the shifter that she has to push down so she can put the car in gear. i was wondering if there is anyway to get rid of the lock. i did do a search but i could not find anything.

thanks

 

are you talking about that little red button at the bottom of the shifter??? if so, that is on there so if the car can not be started you can push that in and switch it out of park. you should not have to push that in to switch gears under normal driving.

 

It's not a child lock! Children are not supposed to use the shifter anyway, so why the lock?

as thebull said, it's for emergency only, so you can take the shifter out of park into neutral so you can push it if the car can't be started. You should never have to use it under normal circumstances. Why does she has to push it to move the shifter? Pushing the big button on the side of the shifter (at the top of the shifter) should do it. That one's needed so that you can't accidentaly knock the shifter to another position (like into reverse while moving, etc.)

 

My car has been doing the same thing.I push the side button in and I cant get it out of park.I have to push in the emergency release at the bottom of the shifter to get it out of park.WTF? It just started this about a week ago.

 

Check the switch that engages when you press the brake pedal and releases the shifter. It probably rests in peace. Or if it is not the switch, then electromagnet that pulls the prong that blocks the shifter - one of those two.

 

ok so its not a child saftey lock, thats what she said it was. so what you guys are saying is thats its broke.

 

Yeah...I've got the same problem...It sucks cuz I have to use two hands to get the car out of park everytime...Could you elaborate a little as to where this switch or electromagnet is?

 

yeah she has to use 2 hands too. its pretty much on the shifter stem right at the bottom front.

 

When you push on the brake pedal, the shifter should unlock. You may have a problem with the switch on the brake pedal not working. Normally, the red lever on the shifter never needs to be touched.

 

i also have this problem but what i've realized is that i only had this problem when i start the car in the morning. but i just let the car warm up for a min. or two (let the temp gauge go up a lil as well as letting the rpm go down to regular idle) and it works fine after that.
so in other words, let the car warm up a lil

 

I got sick of i8t and I dont see any switch on the brake so I just used some eletric tape to hold It down till I get it fixed I know its getto but it works

 

Check the fuse, I think its 10 marked Shift Lock

 

Press the brakes, you should hear a click. This is the shift lock opening up so you can move the gear shift into drive. Turn on your headlights, go to the back of the car, if you see your tail lights on, fine..if not you have to replace the "tail light" fuse or the "brake light" fuse. If those fuses are fine, it could be the shift lock fuse as mentioned by egmitchell.

it's not a big deal.

 

When I press my brake pedal in, sometimes I hear it clicking back and forth, like it's engageing and disengageing quickly? Could the fuse be causing this?

 

Hey, I checked my fuses today and the shift lock fuse is OK but the tail lamp fuse was burned. I replaced the tail lamp fuse and it blew immediately. Could this fuse or short or whatever be the problem. Please help Im driving without brake lights AND the shifter is jacked up. Any ideas? Anyone?

 

I encountered a similar sounding issue on my '92 SE that was easily cured. It took about 10 minutes to perform the repair.

Sometimes the car wouldn't start unless 1) I jiggled the shifter a few times or 2) I pushed the release and moved the shifter into Neutral.

I also notice another annoying problem, when the car started and the shifter was moved to drive or reverse there was an excess delay before the transmission engaged. All these problems disappeared when I replaced the two small plastic linkage bushings that are referenced on this maxima forum. Total cost was about $6.00 for the parts.

One of the bushings was completely gone -- as in missing -- after 115K miles. Mr. Nissan parts man told me the bushings are super high wear out items on these cars. With worn or missing bushings, the shifter linkage has excess play causing these sort of problems.

--SAM

 

Ok I finally broke down and did a search on this problem and it looks like the brake light switch, or the light panel in the trunk is the problem. My panel looks good and the wires are in good shape so my guess is that the switch under the dash is bad. Like I said I have no brake lights, the car cannot be shifted out of park without using the override switch on the console, and the fuse keeps blowing when I hit the brakes. I have to fix this or Im gonna end up making a $75 dollar donation to the state. The only problem I have is how to shoehorn my tubby butt under there to fix it. Wish me luck.

 

i had the same problem. Put in a higher fuse 20/30 so you have taillights and take it to the shop asap. I had corrosion in my taillights causing the fuse to short out like yours. Good luck

 

do you have a link on the shifter brushings replacement? also you're refering to a automatic right? cuz thats whut i have

 

I just did a search using keywords: "bushing" "shifter" "plastic" and found the link to the thread "shifter trouble" started by "daves."

Here are the part numbers for the two plastic bushings--

34552-D4000

34407-01E00

--SAM

 

Well I think I may have found my problem. The power side of the light bulb terminals for the brake lights melted down. The lead connectors on the bottom of the bulb were melted into the socket. I think a short caused this, so much for a simple switch. Even though I already replaced it anyway. Ill keep you all posted when I find out what the problem is.

 

you might want to inspect both of the panels closely again, b/c i had the same problem as you with the fuse blowin as soon as i put a new one in....found out that one of the panels had melted wires and that was the cause of it...when it first happened, i took it to this guy and he just put a bigger fuse in!!!