PARK doesn't work in my car.?

Question

I have a 1990 BMW 525i. The transmission was just recently replaced. I know this was dumb, but while I was driving, I accidentally put the car into park, and it started grinding really bad. It has one of those shifters down on the center console. It had a button you had to push to shift, which now doesn't work. The button is just loose and doesn't do anything when you push it. When it's in "park" on any amount of slope, the car drifts, and you hear a clicking sound from under the car somewhere.

Is there a simple fix for this, and what is wrong. Also is this a sign that the transmission is only going to get worse. Please advise.

Answer 1

You may have lucked out. The transmission shifter on an A.T. car goes directly into the trany where a steel bar inside the shifter moves up and down to different depths of the trany. It may be you have knocked off the end of this steel bar, or perhaps the shift bar has been slightly displaced inside the shifter such that the PARK position is not fully engaged. Since the transmission has recently been replaced, there should be a warranty somewhere close by. Take it back to the transmission installer and see if they can come up with a suitable fix or adjustment. It is possible the shifter was not correctly installed in the transmission since the other ranges: DRIVE, NEUTRAL, REVERSE and LOW appear to be working OK.

Answer 2

AEKDB

Sorry to say, but it sounds like you probably stripped the parking gear lever in the transmission. I'd take it to a shop to get it looked at - if you had stripped the gear itself, it should still hold (it just might roll a little further than normal). You can see how this works here - http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automatic-transmission1.htm - about midway down, there's a parking gear section.

Good luck.

Answer 3

First off i would be concerned with the metal fragments floating around in your tranny. If any thing thats what is going to kill your tranny. As far as fixing it i would either take it to a trassmission shop or go to a salvage yard and try topick one up. Best off letting a shop do it.