Gear shift sticks in park

[davidbridgman]

My gear shift periodically sticks in park, but seems to be doing it more frequently now. When this happens, I can always hold the button down firmly and shake the gear shift pretty hard and eventally it will shift, but this is getting to be a bit of a pain. Anyone had this problem and know how to fix it?

Edited August 30, 2009 by davidbridgman

[larez2]

My gear shift periodically shifts in park, but seems to be doing it more frequently now. When this happens, I can always hold the button down firmly and shake the gear shift pretty hard and eventally it will shift, but this is getting to be a bit of a pain. Anyone had this problem and know how to fix it?

Did you mean "sticks" in park?

Do you use your parking brake? If you don't you'll notice on a slight incline when you park your car rolls quite a bit before locking in park. Over time if you do this a lot I believe something like a cable or something gets stretched out which makes for some sloppy shifting. Something like this happened to my mom (different make and model car though) and the entire shift linkage had to be replaced to fix it.

Just and idea... HTH. Be sure to post your fix if it turns out to be this or if you find it to be something else.

[fasterjames]

On most cars there is a Shift Interlock. Not sure what Porsche calls it. It is usually a 'trigger' located near the top of the brake pedal. Keeps people from accidentally knocking the gearshift into neutral and risking damage or rolling down a hill. This is why you need to put your foot on the brake before shifting.

If this piece goes bad it is common to get symptoms like you have (even though it seems like pressing harder on the shift button helps).

I hope it ends up being an easy fix for you whatever it is.

Edited August 30, 2009 by fasterjames

[stickshiftnz]

That can happen to automatic cars when parked at an incline.

Try this:

- Stop the car, keep foot on the brake.

- Shift to Neutral, engage the hand brake, then release the brake pedal. The weight of the car is now borne by the hand brake.

- Foot on the brake again (so the car doesn't buck), then shift to Park, ignition off.

The weight of the car is not borne by the gearbox's Park gear, making it easier to shift out of Park.

Getting stuck in Park on a slight incline is like on a manual gearbox when you can't get it out of gear and you need to push the car a little to ease the load off that gear.