PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Guys need some help here. I have a 1994 SSEI Bonneville and it is stuck in Park. I drove the car last night and everyrthing was fine. This morning the car starts fine and will not go into Drive or Reverse. Someone told me to check the brake light switch. I changed this and will still not get out of park. There is also another switch higher up above the brake light switch dose anyone know what that is for? Transmission Fluid seems to be way above normal level, but its not empty so shouldnt be the problem. I also checked the shifter, took it off and put it back on, but didnt see any real problems with it. Any Help is greatly appreciated. Pictures also help. THanks guys.

Is it parked on an incline? Will it pop out if you rock the car while trying to pull it out of park? Do you hear the solonoid that locks the car in park until you hit the brakes unlock when you hit the brakes?

My wife had the same problem a while back. She parked on a slight incline without setting the parking brake first. She had to put her foot on the brake extremely firm and them muscle the transmission out of Park.

A little clarifcation please. Does the shifter knob move, it just doesn't engage into gear... or does is the shifter not able to move?

The Car is parked on a very very slight hill, if you even call it a hill. seems pretty flat to me. The shift knob dose not move at all. I have not really herd a noise of the solenoid. Not really sure what the solenoid does or looks like, or what kind of noise it will make. This is my first automatic car so im new to all this. Tmw. i will try to push the car back and forth to see if the shift knob will move out of park. im also going to try wiggling the wires that connect to the Brake light switch to see if maybe its a bad connections. All my brake lights come on, i do have one bulb out. Dont think this would be a problem tho.

Block the back wheels, and jack the front of the car so the wheels aren't touching. Then see if you can get it out of park.

May sound simple, and I know you already messed with it, but take and whack the shifter on the top of nit nice and hard. My old 95 did this to me from time to time. Even thought it seemed like it was fully on, a little whack sometimes was enough to fix it.

check all of your fuses and see if your getting power to the switch

PM me with an email address if you want a wiring diagram.

x2 on checking the fuses

Power also goes through the park portion of the park/neutral safety switch.

I believe the brake switch uses a two different sets of contacts for the shift interlock & brake lights. In other words just because the brake lights come on it doesn't mean the brake switch isn't at fault.

On the 98 there is a release on the shifter that you can press to move the shifter out of park. I'd assume the 94 also has this but can't say for sure.

Okay ive tried lifting the car off the ground and shifting out of park. did not work. I also tried rocking the car back and forth and trying to get it out of park. did not work. Tried turning the keys just to the first position and moving the shifter to neutral. Shift knob still would not move. I have checked all the fuses i can find, they all seem to be fine. I also did the hammer on top of the shift knob, that didnt fix it either. So i have taken some pictures to see if you all can point anything out for me.

"Power also goes through the park portion of the park/neutral safety switch" Im not sure what you are talking about here? Not sure what the neutral safety switch is or where its located. THanks guys here are the pictures. Well i cant seem to figure out how to post pictures so if u can tell me that ill post them.

It was asked earlier, do you hear the solenoid click when you but on the brake before shifting out of park?

No i dont hear it click. dose it click around the shift knob once you apply pressure to the brake pedal. I tried to listen for it, but hear nothing. Ill try it again with the center console off to make sure im not hearing it click.

I'm assuming you can't press the shifter button as far as you used to, right? If I can tonight, I'll get a picture of the saftey switch cable or a description at least. Yours might just be out of adjustment.

Okay so i got the car out of park! What it seems to be is, I removed the center console and see this horizontal lock of some sort that should move forward and backwards when you press and depress the brake pedal. this lock seems to be stuck. It moves backwards when i let go of the brake pedal, but when i press the brake pedal it stays backwards and dose not move forward to disengae the lock. This is not letting me push the button the full travel of motion but yet just bending the shaft. As far as clicking sounds. I cant hear the click when the button is stuck but after i disengage the lock and i push the shifter button in and out i hear a clicking sound comeing from the steering column. So how do i go about fixing this problem? I have pictures of what im takling about but cant seem to find out how to post pictues in this forum. Thanks for keeping up with this post and helping me out.

Sounds like you found what I was going to point you towards with my pics.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=146

center console

Lock that will not move.

shifter shaft kind of bent.

my bonneville.

Does it work better if you pull one way or another to make it tighter or give it slack?

Yes in the 2nd picture from the top if i slide that peace with the arrow pointed to it to the right which would be towards the front of the car, it just stays there now. It will not move foward or backwards, which allows me to shift into any gear. Its not fixed but at least im able to drive the car. every once in a while that lock slides back and i wont be able to shift but i then just push it foward again manualy.

I haven't done it myself, but trace that cable and see where it leads you.

Happened a lot with my wife's '96. To reload the release, the shifter button has to come all of the way out of the shifter knob. It wasn't. It was stuck, probably against the leather hood on the shifter knob.. Next time just reach around with your left thumb and forefinger, and pull the top part of the button out

I have never read of anybody getting stuck in park, that it wasn't the problem. That doesn't mean that there aren't other possibilities.

The problem was always dispatched so quickly, that it must not have been passed down.

Next time it happens, tell them to try that first. I think statistics are on my side.