I can not put the car in park, therefore i cant get the key out of the ignition. It's a 98 DX with auto tranny. Even when i put a spare key in the shift release i can't put in park. I have no problem switching through the other gears, any ideas what might be causing this?

 

First check that the brake lights work.

You have to press the brake pedal to shift into park, the brake light circuit energizes a solenoid that unlocks the lever to so it can go into park.

 

yes the brakes light are working, i swear when i used to hit the brake pedal i used to hear a click from within the shifting box area, now i am not hearing anything. I am guessing that the clicking was enabling something to "unlock"?

 

Alright so I figured out that when I offset the shift cable to the gears by one, i am able to get the car in park and can get the key out. Meaning R=N, N=D4, D4=D3. I am getting the clicking sound in park when i press the brake pedal. But when the shift cable is where it is suppose to be then i am not able to get the car in park. No clicking sound cause i cant get the gear in park.

 

bump

 

I'm not sure what you did there. Disconnect the cable from the transmission to rule it out entirely. Can you then move the lever to park? If not, the problem is at the shift lever, either solenoid not pulling in, or the solenoid does pull in but the mechanism is faulty.

 

When i disconnect the shift cable from the shifter, under the center console, i can shift the shifter into park and it shows that i am in park on the dash. I can get the key out then, but if the shift cable is connected then i cant get it to go into park no matter how hard i try.

 

Adjust cable properly, then disconnect the transmission end. This will show if there is something wrong with the transmission.

You can also try moving the lever on the transmission to the park position with the cable off. If you were successful, parking latch will be engaged so the car does not roll with the brake off.

 

I have adjusted the cable properly, and when i do i cant go into park. All the gears are right, r=r n=n d=d etc, but just cant get into park. where is the lever on the transmisson? Are you talking about pushing the shifting cable under the consul all the way in to the park position?

 

The part on the transmission that the cable moves. Remove the cable and try to move it directly. See if you can get one more click and the wheels locked.

 

I would have to open up the transmission where the cable enters it to do that, right? If so cant get to that till tomorrow. Is tranny fluid going to come out when i open it?

 

I just disconnected the cable from the shifter under the center consule and pushed the cable in as far as i could with my hands. got out of the car and still could push the car, therefore the cable was not engaging with park. So even with the cable disconnected from the shifter the car wont go into park. However when the shifter is disconnected from the cable then i can get the shifter into park (shows on dash + can move it to park on the gear box) being able to get the key out. Sorry for all this confusion, but the problem is i cant get the cable to go into park on the transmission whether the cable is connected to the shifter or not.

 

Just so you know, no, you do not crack the tranny open for this. There is a cover plate bolted to the tranny you remove so you can unbolt the cable from an actuator arm.

Then you can attempt moving the actuator arm directly instead of the weak cable.

This may help you understand, please see step 16 and the figure right under it:

 

So I just did the steps that you mentioned and i can get the transmission to go into park, should the shift cable have any bend in it? Mine looks like -> ) <-, its definitely not straight, this mean i should replace the shift cable?

 

 

Switched out the shift cable, and can now put in park, adjusted the cable and gears are correct, problem seems to be solved. thanks all