2001 Mercury Sable Gear shift difficult

DALEALDERSON

MEMBER
2001 MERCURY SABLE
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
116,000 MILES

Sometimes I have trouble shifting out of Park. I put my foot on the brake and push in the thumb button on the gear shift. It may work and it may not. If I play with it a few minutes it usually eventually works. This will happen and then not happen for a few weeks. I have no idea what I do that causes it to work eventually. Is this electrical or what? Other than this the car runs perfect. It has not been tuned up ever. I have done regular oil changes and I have changed the transmission oil. Only the brakes and A/c have been repaired. Thanks for being here for questions!

Sunday, December 16th, 2007 AT 7:27 PM

1 Reply

FLEXY5

MECHANIC
512 POSTS

In the center console there is a small solenoid that is activated by a switch on the brake pedal. Sometimes this solenoid sticks. There really is no rhyme or reason when it chooses to release for you. However, in my experience, what normally causes this problem is when some liquid has been spilled into the console. It will eventually need to be replaced. Thank you for your question and I hope this helps.

Dave

Was this

answer

helpful?

Yes

No

Sunday, December 16th, 2007 AT 9:06 PM