NEED HELP Shifter stuck in park

[redline customs]

Alright guys, some of you know that I've just completed an engine swap when I busted a rod. After fiddling with trying to mate it up with the tranny, I found out that I had an extra locating do well. Had to pull the tranny to get it out. Well after all is said and done, I got er going. Took her out on her maiden voyage last night and had no issues whatsoever. Come out this morning to go to store, and my shifter is stuck in park. I do not hear a click when I push the brake pedal. The brake lights are functioning and after some research, I checked fuses 25 and 27 and both are good. I tried to depress the interlock bypass on pass side in console and it goes in but does not unlock shifter. Any help is appreciated. It is and 03 tb 4.2.

 

[Mooseman]

Maybe a lot of pressure on the parking pawl inside the tranny. You parked on an inclibe? Does it feel like the shifter is unlocked but it's stuck at the end of the cable?

You say you don't hear the shift interlock unlock when you press on the brake. Maybe the solenoid itself is dead. But you said you pushed on the manual button on the shifter and it still won't go. Maybe the shifter is borked.

 

[redline customs]

No it's not in the tranny. I unclipped the little round holder that is on the side of the tranny and I can move it through the gears from underneath, but the button will not depress and allow me to move the shifter itself. Is there any way to just remove the lock assembly?

 

[mrrsm]

It might be that the Park-Neutral-Safety Switch is "Slightly Maladjusted". This Video will show you where to loosen the Set Bolts and how to make some very slight up and down adjustments to get the whole apparatus to cooperate. The Brake Pedal pressure is necessary as proof that a Human Being is in control of the vehicle when the Transmission is being engaged to Engine Power and it works in concert with the Shifter Position and Gear Engagement... so the Solenoid mentioned by @Mooseman and the Park-Safety-Neutral Switch MUST be in agreement before the Shifter Button will work.

Before you do anything... Set the Emergency Brake and write down a Diagram of the all the possible positions of the Shifter Lever on the 4L60E Transmission... and practice manually cycling the Small Lever through all of them until you can confirm that the Lever is actually EXACTLY in the Neutral Position inside the Transmission. Then make your slight adjustments to align the Neutral Switch up to conform with the physical position of the that Lever. Then lightly tighten the Two Set Bolts and attempt to Start the Vehicle.

This might require a little guessing as to which way to maneuver the Plastic Body of the Park-Neutral-Safety Switch with some very slight increments... So Be Very Gentle when popping that Nylon Grommet off and on as they can be brittle with age and unless you purchased a New Grommet... you will need a light touch there. Once the Shift Handle Button Depresses and you have a complete range of motion in all Shift Positions and it locks in the Park Position... remove the Ignition Key and return to the Park-Neutral-Safety Switch to snug up the Two Bolts without changing the position of the PNSS:

 

[redline customs]

Well I got it to work. For some reason the handle was crooked and jammed. It was also holding the lock so that may explain why it wasn't clicking. And of course now that that problem is fixed, I have yet another. She starts and idles fine, but as soon as I put it into any gear, it's like a kill switch was hit. If I rev very slightly, then she will roll a couple feet before dying. I'm assuming it is something to do with the tcc lockup but not sure. It is weird because not 5 mins before this happened, I was driving it around the yard. Is it possible that maybe a connector came undone? I had surgery yesterday to repair a hernia and don't really feel like crawling around blindly underneath until I know what I'm looking for. What plug is controllig the lockup? For that matter does anyone know what fuse it is as well?

 

[mrrsm]

I'm loathe to suggest anything that might prompt you to want to venture out and crawl around under the vehicle. The one thing that jumps out at me is the question of whether you got the PCM right along with the Donor Motor... as you have a Completely Different Engine married to a Completely Different Transmission so to speak, and without a CASE Re-Learn to allow the PCM to dope out the Crankshaft Angle and work out the internal Wear and Tear of the Transmission gears so it will know at what RPM to perform the Torque Converter Lock-Up and other Cluster Gear Shift points... It won't behave properly.

But then again... it could also be a number of other minor problems that will need a bigger list of symptoms for us to figure out the real issues. Why don't you take at least 3-4 days off and let your body heal? I can relate to this operation as I had to have mine bi-laterally at the age of 8 and I can still remember how much it hurt when the pretty nurses tried to make me laugh. Nobody is likely to drive it away when you are not looking ... so ... Relax a bit and enjoy the break. Good Job on "Sorting out the Flysh*t from the Pepper" and solving this problem.

***Whew*** What a week ..Huh?

 

[Mooseman]

Yes, definitely rest and recover before doing anything physical.

The CASE relearn has nothing to do with the running of the engine. That's just to learn the current correlation between the camshaft and crankshaft so if there is an issue later, like a stretched or skipped timing chain, it will throw the code. It will start and run normally without it but will throw a code for it.

I don't know of anything except the ignition switch that would kill the engine as if it's switch off. But what is possible is that the TCC is locked up and, just like a manual transmission, will stall the engine if not moving. Does it feel like it wants to move but stalls?

The PCM that should be used is the one that came with the vehicle, not the motor as there may be differences with gearing and the oil level sensor in the pan. There is also the security relearn that would be necessary unless you keep your original PCM.

 

[redline customs]

Yes I have my original PCM. It has miraculously started running again. I'm going to be chasing some electrical gremlins around in this thing for a minute though. It started having a miss at idle and sounds lopey until I tap the throttle and it levels out for a few seconds. Also anytime I flip my high beams on, either by the stalk or by the switch I have installed, it instantly kills the engine. I'm not sure if there are some broken wires that were agitated by moving the harnesses, or im going to double check all the grounds on the motor to make sure that I tightened all of them.

 

[redline customs]

Oh and I can't upload the video to the website for some reason but I have one on my Facebook page if you would like to see what its doing.
https://m.facebook.com/Redline-custom-accessories-and-service-1579467749012678/

 

[Mooseman]

You can't upload videos directly to the forum. You have to upload it to an external site (i.e. YouTube, FB) and put the link here, just like you did.

Yeah, definitely something up with the wiring. Check the grounds on the block as they can cause stuff to happen (or not). Also check for codes, even pending as this could point you in the right direction.

 

[redline customs]

Yeah. I'll try to get a clear shot of everything its doing, lights killing it etc. I'll try but I doubt it will work out. I had to hide my phone from her so she wouldn't see it when I got that video. She noticed at the end which is when she started acting right lol. Thanks for the help guys, imma prolly have the mechanic that does my customer vehicles when I'm busy to come by and take a look. I'm definitely way too sore to do anything with it right now.