Won't Shift out of Park

It still think it has to do with the cable binding because of age and lack of lubrication. The issue will go away once the car is warmed up for a few minutes; at that point the cars interior and steering column are still cold. The only areas that warmed up are the transmission tunnel and the engine bay; which is where I assume the cable is routed
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
He means the brake/shift interlock. Disconnect the cable, and the shifter moves regardless of key position and foot brake application. I'd advise against it.

Before the brake/shift interlock requirement, Audi of America came close to shutting down because of unintended acceleration. Also, it may be a (minor) anti-theft device.
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I'm with you, I'm in on keeping the cable in.

theterminator93 said:
I drove my car with it disconnected for years. Still is. Just yank it. If you're worried about moving the shifter unintentionally with your foot not on the brake, then, maybe you should reconsider renewing your license? ;)
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While like you, I drive the car, there are a few seldom times where my wife drives my car. And now with my kids coming of driving age, the possibility of one of them driving my cars will be decent.

Kenz said:
It still think it has to do with the cable binding because of age and lack of lubrication. The issue will go away once the car is warmed up for a few minutes; at that point the cars interior and steering column are still cold. The only areas that warmed up are the transmission tunnel and the engine bay; which is where I assume the cable is routed
Click to expand...

I'm going to agree here, it's all age related. Remove, lube, reinstall will be the solution to this problem.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
I'm with you, I'm in on keeping the cable in.



While like you, I drive the car, there are a few seldom times where my wife drives my car. And now with my kids coming of driving age, the possibility of one of them driving my cars will be decent.
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I mean the literal worst case scenario here is if they’re tightly parallel parked and shift into reverse without holding the brake they slowly bump the car behind….


…Have you ever done that? Because I sure haven’t. I instinctively hold the brake when selecting gears because that’s literally what they thought me to do in drivers ed. Presumably if your wife and kids drive your Tbird and also drive your wife’s later model car with its factory interlock as well they’ll have gained the intuition/muscle memory to just press the brake before selecting the gear whether a different car has it functional or not.

I mean the Tbird doesn’t have a mandated backup camera either, something anyone accustomed to modern cars might be thrown by…. Unless you know how to actually look behind your car cautiously reversing as most people do without incident
 
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I owned a 71 C10 for a while, no interlock, no clutch switch either. Only once I started it in gear without the clutch pressed, it began to roll and scared the crap outta me. I was parked in front of a garage door that wasn’t mine.
Very quickly hit the brakes.
 
Of the three cars with automatic transmissions in our fleet, only the '97 T-Bird has the park interlock. As far as I know, multiple people have driven the other two and no one has perished. I guess it isn't as bad as the very early MN12 cars. Didn't they require you to press the brake pedal just to start the car? :cautious:
 
Mine doesn't even have a clutch switch. When the ECM died, I used the starter in first gear to move the car into the garage, it actually moved fine.

So technically my Cougar is sort of a hybrid car ? :unsure:
 
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