[eyezik]

What would cause my car to be stuck in park?


I have an 87 Pontiac Grand Prix, one night after driving it I parked it, about an hour later I get in fire it up and I cant take it out of park.

I didnt hear anything unusual while previously driving, I wasnt driving poorly, as far as I knew everything was gravy.

It still starts and everything, its just stuck in park.

Suggestions?

[bigwill51534]

Have you tried forcing the steering wheel to either side before disengaging it from park? If there is a bind on the steering wheel, it will be hard to shift from park.

~Will Courtier~

[trancosrt]

Dis your try using the key trick? Close to the gear shift there is a slot to insert the car key to shift when it gets stuck.
I don't know why would it get stuck though

[eyezik]

I tried turning my wheel in every direction possible (only two ways :/ ) and my shifter is on the dash behind the steering wheel. There is no slot for a key other than the ignition.

[Miller]

when i first read the title i thought you said you were stuck in the park

[ivwshane]

I had this exact same problem with my saturn except that my shifter was on the center console. The problem turned out to be a faulty solenoid which would not release when try to get out of park.

It was a easy fix and I did it my self


If you have a shop manual you might look at the assembly of your shifter and see if there is any such solenoid.

[eyezik]

Yeah Ive been meaning to get one of those shop manuals. I think I need one. Piece of shit car, I had it running for a week and then it takes a shit on me. GAY

[Jishory]

isaac, we could go to autozone and just read it inside the store, they usualy have a good selection of repair manuals

[eyezik]

(disclaimer; I know nothing about cars and dont have any knowledge as to the technical terms of things so bare with me)

Fixed that shit. I spent the better part of my day with a few wrenches and some screw drivers tinkering around in my sterring collumn.

I took off the linkage to see if it was the shifter or the tranny, it was the shifter. So I took it all apart and after a few hours of messing with it I found a piece that wont let you shift the car or turn the wheel unless the ignition switch is in the right place.

(back tracking: a while ago I had to replace my ignition switch, but instead of replacing it I kind of ghetto rigged it so that to start my car you just push a metal rod in)

The little piece that prevented my shifter from moving was held up by a spring, so I grabbed some needle nose pliers and pulled it out. So now its not working the way it should be, but my sterring wheel isnt locked and I can shift into drive.

After I finished I had a great feeling of accomplishment.