I've noticed that some people in the forums are having problems with their 3rd gen TL being stuck in park. But my problem is a little different. When i put my key in, turn the car on, and press the brake and try to shift into the car won't shift. I would have to either press the brake, wait a couple seconds and try, or jiggle the shifter a couple times and it would work. When I do get it to work, I notice after driving, i put the shifter into park. But it won't lock into park.....you could pull it out of park without pressing the brake. However, if you put it in park and let it sit there for a few seconds..then the safety switch would lock it into park. Now I've notice the car doing this after two things occurred, but don't know which one. I had my brakes done at a Valvoline lube place. Did they do something that would cause this to occur? And number two, one of my kids spilled a little bit of slurpee (slushy sweet drink) onto the shifter area. However, the problem started to occur about a week after this happened. I notice one of my heated seat buttons is a bit sticky to the push. But it was a little bit of slurpee maybe 1-2 oz that fell inn the area. I would have to press the brake, jiggle the shifter, release the brake, press it again...basically play with the shifter for a few seconds, and then it would dissengage and allow to go into one of the gears. Any ideas?

 

I would imagine that slurpee may have something to do with it.

Were they any problems before the slurpee?

and this reminds me of just one more reason that if i let any drinks in the car, its bottled drinks.

 

I doubt that it is a problem with the slurpee... cause I mean stickiness is one thing but actually getting stuck seems like a mechanical problem.

If anything though, use the transmission release button to release the lock, see if that works. If that works then it might be the linkage between the brakes and the transmission itself.

 

when u hit the brakes it releases the mechanism holding the shifter knob.... thats electro-mechanical....the slurpee fried it or its stuck....time to rip apart and investigate. im betting on the slurpee

 

definitly the slurpee

 

I told one of the shop mechanics at my job (NYC Sanitation), they said that it is probably the solenoid getting stuck and I would probably have to rip apart the center console and spray stuff up with WD40. When i press the little tab and push my key down the hole, it does release and allow me to come out of park.

 

the solenoid is made to be pressed manually or electromechanically through current... so when u push it manually, its moving no probs, but the amount of force thats being appplied from ur hand is much greater than that of electricity. if u still have issues since ur in NY I or someone off the forum can help....or the shop guy at ur job either way good luck. im sure its a simple fix