If anyone can help with this that would be great.

In the mornings (cold) I find it difficult to move the gear selector joystick. It feels like something is holding it back. As the engine warms up and the teansmission it becomes easier. By the the time is has warmed up (outside) I cannot notice any difficulty in moving the gear selector from PARK to DRIVE or any of the gears.

My thoughts are, is there a linkage that needs to be lubed (gease fitting) somewhere along the linkage. Or is one of the shift solenoids going bad and once it warms up it works correctly? I did have a CEL come on the the code was a P1705.

If anyone, anyone at all can give me some insight or has experienced this first hand and has a solution I'm all ears. I really want to avoid taking it to a garage wasting money, when I know all the guys here have tons of experience on our TL's.

Thanks in advance,

Bundy

 

One quick note:

P1705 is a short in the transmission range switch/ aka neutral safety switch. I changed that out so I know the switch is not the cause of the problem.

Bundy

 

Hey Spydercatt, you may have better luck finding the problem if you remove the console to get a better look at what's going on. It could be as simple as you mentioned, lube or adjust the shift cable. There's also some solenoids and misc. hardware such as springs & detents located under the shifter's base. Something could be sticking or binding ?

 

I had this problem last week. My daughter spilled something in the shift Gate and got stuck wouldnt move with out force until the car got warmed up took out the sift gate cleaned it up good as new

 

My wife's '05 MDX had a similar issue. Really difficult to move the gear selector and at times throwing CELs regarding the gear selector position. After some searching I found it was a really common issue of the linkage where is connects to the tranny (which, incidentally, is where the position switch is also). It is not lubricated and binds. I greased it up and don't have an issue anymore.

You are getting the CEL because you are not completely in the correct gear position on the switch. Once you resolve the binding, whether at the tranny connection or in the console, you should be good to go.

 

Thanks. I did pick up the car used and there seems to be a bunch of Coke all over the shifter and in the console as well. I like this car a lot so I'm fixing it little by little. I have done the timing belt, rear motor mount, fuel injectors, replaced a torn fuel filler neck hose, cat, engine coolant tempature switch. I'm sure there is more just can't think of it now. I will go into the console and clean it out.

Severin, you mentioned lubricating the linkage at the tranny. Is that on the drivers side or passengers side of the tranny. If you referring to where the neutral safety switch/range selector switch sits, when I changed it out a few days ago the switch has two bolts holding it and a little steel nub comes out of the Trans to physically move the switch. I did not see a place to lube the linkage or any linkage for that matter. If you could please tell me where I could find the place to lube that would be helpful.

Thanks everyone for your help.
Bundy

 

The locations on the MDX differ than the TL.
Bundy, please PM me; it is easier for me to send you the information you need in this case.

 

I had a similar problem on my (wifes now) 99, sticky on cold mornings going to work and after 10minutes or less of driving it would go away.... i think i even have a thread on here about it, all you need is WD-40 i used about two cans and just shifted thru all the gears repeatedly spraying down the shift knob and viola no more stickyness

 

I've has atleast 3 TL/CL's come into my shop (and happened to mine as well) where this has occurred. The drink spilling issue won the majority. The 4th one, mine, had a intermittently inoperable shift lock solenoid. It's merely an actuator that's controlled be a signal from the brake pedal position switch and when there's a signal present from the switch, it releases the lock mechanism allowing the shifter to move from PARK position. First ensure that the brake pedal position switch is working by seeing if your cruise control deactivates by pressing the brake pedal. If it doesn't, check the BPP switch next to the brake light switch itself (note: if cruise doesn't deactivate, simply press the main cruise off/on switch and it will disengage it also). If that's ok, you may be able to hear a slight noise inside the shifter console when pressing and releasing the brake pedal. If you hear the noise, you may have a sticking actuator or binding linkage. If you don't hear it, further electrical diagnostics will be required to determine what the issue will be.

 

I have the same solenoid issue that yungone501 spoke of, it sticks when I'm trying to shift from drive to park. The dealership wanted to charge me 100 some odd dollars to fix it so I just bought a very heavy weighted shift knob from blox for 30 bucks and you don't even notice it sticking anymore.

 

Lol, I forgot the solution to the ticking solenoid issue. PB blaster sprayed directly into the solenoid pivoting shaft. Works very time!