Can't shift out of park

MICHAELBARRINGER

MEMBER
2006 CHRYSLER PT CRUISER
2.4L
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
85,000 MILES

I recently bought a 2006 PT Cruiser convertible that had sat for a while, it will not shift out of park, I checked the brake lights, they work fine, I have been trying to loosen up the linkage where it attaches to the transmission, the shaft where the linkage attaches will not move, could it be frozen? I have been spraying it with rust penetrant trying to loosen it up, Unfortunately I broke the shifter inside the vehicle trying to get the car to come out of park, but I can replace that if I get the darned car out of park, any suggestions?

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

The first thing we need to do is find out if this is a cable issue or an issue inside the unit.

To do this we need to remove the linkage from the TRS on the transmission which is under the battery.

I am attaching the info below on how to do this but basically, we need to access this and pop off the cable. Once this is removed, we need to put the vehicle on jack stands and try to move the shifter by hand.

Here is a guide that will help with lifting the vehicle:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/jack-up-and-lift-your-car-safely

If you are not able to move the shifter by hand, then we are going to have to tear down the unit and find out what is causing the manual valve to stick. More than likely it is due to sitting for so long.

Please see the attached info and let us know what you find with this, and we can go from there.

Thanks

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