Hi, i turned on my car just now and tried to back up but the car wouldn't go out of park. I did some searching on google and it seemed to be something with the break light switch... i dont know anything about cars either so tell me if im going in the right direction.

Update: just called advanced auto parts and the guy seemed to agree that its the break light switch. Apparently its not to difficult to fix and costs $50~ to order the part. So i guess my question is should i place my order? or could it be something else?

thanks!

 

Do your BRAKE lights work?

Can you hear the shift lock solenoid under the center console?

A correct and accurate diagnose is always cheaper than throwing parts at the problem.

 

key part i forgot to mention that i can manually put the car into a gear by putting a key into the key shift lock and manually setting it to a gear.

Update: I just got back from the auto parts store, the break lights came back and i am able to put it into a non-park gear without using the key shift lock! Seems like the wiring is bad? Hopefully its just that unit and not else inside with some circuit!!

 

could be something as simple as a fuse, does ur horn work? cause the fuse for the horn is hte same as the one for the shift lock, try that and start from there

 

Do i have a gear shift override? There's no place for a key on the console. Or is this only for V6?

 

i had same problem but instead i replaced taillights with tyc and accidentally pinched a wire. located on the driver side in the trunk under the plastics located just below taillight assembly is a little module that read resistant i burnt it quite a bit inside 2 piece of wire exposed in a u shape that had burned so i removed and replaced.