I have a 1997 Ford Escort. This morning I could not get the car to shift out of park. The temperatures have been below zero here for the last two weeks. I let the car warm up but I still could not shift at all.
2007-02-15 12:02:03 · 3 answers · asked by pegoheart144 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
several possibilities. are you parked on a hill? often the pressure of the car's weight is pushing against the parking pin, jamming it. the fix is to have a friend push or pull you up the hill (maybe 2-4 inches) while you attempt to shift. my 98 contour has a safety switch not allowing you to shift from park until the brakes are applied; so maybe your switch is toast. a broken or jammed (with ice?) linkage? was this ever a minor problem before you got stuck now? if so how did you "fix" it then? these clues could give you (or your mechanic) an idea of what's going on now.
2007-02-15 12:18:17 · answer #1 · answered by gramatron 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your first mistake was in buying a Ford. They are not reliable. Their truck line is much better than their car line. Escorts are notorious for problems. Anyway, when temperatures are that cold, it could be that the cables are frozen. If you had someone recenty work on the car and they had to remove the shifter trim, they could have twisted the cables, which would cause you to not be able to shift. Either way, I would contact a reliable mechanic. Good luck.
2007-02-15 12:17:19 · answer #2 · answered by hazeleyedbeauty1967 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
it could be a cold problem, or it could be a shift interlock solenoid issue. the cheapest thing you can do is warm the car up (walk away from the car while the engine is running with heater full blast). eventually all the components will warm up, and if the cold is the problem, it will start working. it may take 30-45 minutes of warm up for this.
2007-02-15 12:13:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋