Cause
Faulty shift lock solenoid
The solenoid preventing the selector leaving park unless the brake is applied, faulty so the lock does not release. It is a safety interlock rather than a transmission control — it stops a vehicle being put into gear accidentally — and its failure leaves the vehicle immobile with a gearbox that is entirely healthy.
The complaint is a selector that will not move out of park, which reads as a serious transmission problem to a driver and is not one. The manual release override exists for exactly this and is usually a small covered slot near the selector, worth knowing about because it gets a stranded vehicle moving.
Check its input before condemning it. The solenoid releases on a signal from the brake light switch, so a misadjusted or failed brake switch produces the identical symptom with a perfect solenoid — and it usually also means the brake lights are not working, which is the check that separates the two in seconds. A blown brake light bulb has stranded vehicles this way. Failing that, the solenoid sits in the console where spillages reach it, and a corroded connector is more likely than a failed winding.
Typically a moderate job.
Codes this can cause (4)
Codes where this is a likely explanation first, rather than merely a possible one.
- P0928 Gear Shift Lock Solenoid/Actuator Control Circuit A/Open Likely for this code Moderate
- P0929 Gear Shift Lock Solenoid/Actuator Control Circuit A Range/Performance Likely for this code Moderate
- P0930 Gear Shift Lock Solenoid/Actuator Control Circuit A Low Likely for this code Moderate
- P0931 Gear Shift Lock Solenoid/Actuator Control Circuit A High Likely for this code Moderate
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