babeehlisa

So last night I got stuck at wal mart because my acura tl got stuck in park. At the moment I have a small screw driver in the little hole which releases the stick from park into drive. The horn also stopped working at the same time as this and so did the break lights? A few mechanics told me that it was the transmission and I dont think it is. It must be some kind of saftey mechanism. Please Help!!

Stephen00TL

Try replacing the brake pressure sensor. mine just went out on my car and it would not shift out of park without pressing release and break lights did not work either. I got a new one from autozone with a lifetime warranty for 30-40 dollars easy to change took about 10 mins. Try that and see if that works also try not to drive the car because the brake lights will not work.

03tl-s04mdx

It's probably a fuse. Same thing just happened to me on my MDX. I thought it was the brake switch so I replaced it (at the time I didn't realize the horn wasn't working as well). After replacing the switch (only 10 bucks at the Acura dealer BTW) and not fixing the problem I realized the horn wasn't working as well and figured it must be a fuse. Not sure which one it is on the TL but check the under hood fuse box - that's where it was on my MDX.

01tl4tl

what you encountered is a safety device- if the brake lights are not operating
the trans wont shift out of park
To release the safety- push a screwdriver--or the car key is made for this-
push it straight down as you hold brakes on- move shifter to N- remove key-
start car
Then it will do whatever you want,,until next time it needs to come out of park
of course you wouldnt drive it with no brake lights,,just testing for the problem

FUSE is a great thought! -- because horn went out too,,never know whats connected
If the fuse blew there is a `short` to find in the wiring,,maybe a bad bulb
ck all bulbs operation
Ck horn operation for possible short

If the fuse is ok and you have no brake lights, go to the brake light sensor at brake pedal
Some get loose and out of position, connector dirty, others just fail- wear out

there is one sensor for cruise control disconnect --and the other is brake light control

babeehlisa

Hello everyone! Thank You for all your help. I was looking on the forum and found that other people had same problem with other cars and other models. They pointed out that they had a problem with the "STOP Fuse" I changed out the stop fuse with the spare that they had and my car is fully functional. No more screw driver in the hole! =]

Stephen00TL

Sweet gotta love when it is such a cheap simple fix

nsnrider

iTrader: (2)

correction: when a fuse blows there is an "open" in the circuit.