This only occurs about 10% of the time.

FYI, I always put the car in Park, pull the e-brake, and then take my foot of the brake, so the pressure isn't on the transmission.

So sometimes, when I first start my car going 'Park' to reverse or drive, requires a lot more power than usual. This only happens sometimes though.

I'm going to try cleaning the inside of the gated shifter. On my old Accord, this made a difference.

Do you think my transmission is going bad?

 

Also, just as a note, the transmission shifts fine in regards to everything else, its really smooth in fact. Even the Reverse to Drive transition is smooth as is the shifting in all 3 gears.

Its a 2002 GLE with 109k miles.

 

Not necessarily your transmission going bad. Next time that happens, check to see if your brake lights come on when you press the brake pedal, (either by a reflection off of what's behind the car or having someone check the lights while you press the brake). If they don't, your problem could be a brake light switch going bad.
FYI, I always put the car in Neutral, apply the e-brake, take foot off the brake pedal, then put the car in Park, so the presure is really on the e-brake.

 

Do you notice this normally only when parked on hills?

Even when I put the e-brake on with my foot on the brake pedal, the car moves a little when i lift my foot. So if I had an auto, some force would still be going to the tranny when parked on a hill....and that would take some additional force to get it out of park.

 

I'll do that next time this happens. Interesting way to put the car in park, I'll do that too.

At first I though it would only happen on inclines, but now I notice it happens randomly where ever.

 

I figured the extra step is just another way to protect my tran$mi$$ion...

 

The fluid level is low.. check that out.

ATF lubricates the shifter arm and I had the same issue a few years back and fixed it by raising the fluid level in the pan.!!!

Remember this fixes shifter problem on a level surface, inclined surfaces you will have to live with the problem, that is the nature of the beast.

 

check out the solonoids in your shifer. one worn can be hard to release.

 

How do I check that? Any links or suggestions? I'll try searching in the mean time.

 

when the shifter is stuck, you can press the release see if it would shift out fine.

 

yeap, like Jasonmax said the solenoid might went bad. Mine is like that, I just slip a piece of metal to hold/unlock the shift lock release all the time.

 

Just to clarify, is your gear selector just harder sometimes but it does move from Park or, does it actually get stuck and would not move from Park at all?

 

When you put your foot on the brake can you hear it unlocking the shift ***? Turn your music down and your fan off, when you push the brake pedal with your car in park you'll hear a click as the shift lock disengages, It could be the switch on your pedal is shorting out.

 

Where do you live? Just wondering if you lived someplace where it got really cold and this occured in the extreme cold temps.

 

The gear selector does move, it is just harder to move.

I believe I still hear the unlocking, I think if it wasn't unlocking it'd be a lot harder to move, but I will check to clarify next time.

I live in Milwuakee, WI and it does get cold here.

 

No ones mentioned cold weather as being an option. I'm trying to look at the things that you can hopefully do with-out spending money to make sure. First thing would be to let your car warm up and your tranny, however someone is still going to flame me now and say well you have to drive the car to distribute the power through tranny blah blah blah, point being let the car warm up.

If that doesn't work I also do the E-brake first than release off brake than put in gear(your case P) However notice if your e-brake is loose a bit. Before I thought my e-brake was tight especially on hills i'd let off brake with all pressure on ebrake than put in gear than come back to find my tranny with all the pressure on it, my car actually slowly slid. Be sure to tighten ur e-brake well and than have that set. I honestly believe that should be your problem. It's often and I see tons of people doing it. As stated before E-brake first than off brake and you should be good to go! gl

 

This happens to me sometimes too mainly when i dont let the car warm up. In summer its occurs rarely more prevalent during colder months. Let your car warm up a little bit longer.

 

I've been doing the put it in neutral, ebrake, then park method and its awesome!!!

This really makes shifting out of park so much smoother now. I haven't had the situation above happen again.

I still need to change my fluid too.