Car stuck in Park

[ajchxc]

My '92 has been sitting for over a year without being driven. For the past couple months I've been trying to get it back to being road worthy. I have most things done, however currently the car will not get out of park. I have taken the center console apart to see if it was the park lock actuator, however even if I move the lock plate away from the pin with my fingers I still cannot move the lever. I can hear the click behind the dash when I press the shift button. I had the car up on jack stands and could not see any damage to the cable or the levers on the transmission. I tried soaking that end in penetrating oil, however that did nothing. What else should I look at next? The transmission was rebuilt a couple years ago by a reputable tranny shop, it may have less than 2000 miles on it because I took it off the road shortly after.

-Adam

[1986nate]

Does the shifter itself move or not?

[huck369]

I'm guessing a broken shifter cable....

[ajchxc]

Originally Posted by 1986nate

Does the shifter itself move or not?

No, something is physically keeping the shifter from leaving the park position. To me it seems like the lever is stuck at the transmission, but I'm not sure.

[Hocrest]

Probably a rusted shifter cable.

[ajchxc]

Originally Posted by Hocrest

Probably a rusted shifter cable.

Do you think this is something I can get to loosen up with penetrating oil or similar? Or does that pretty much mean replacement. I guess I could go under and remove it from the trans side and see if I can move the lever with it disconnected.

[Hocrest]

With you being in upstate NY and it sitting for a year, my guess is it's rusted solid. But it wouldn't hurt to try some penetrating oil on it.

To release the cable from the trans, it is just a spring/cotter pin holding the "moving" part of the cable to the passenger side of the trans.