2000 lincoln town car stuck in park?

Answer 1

There are 2 different causes I can think of, both of which I have had at times...one on my 95 LTC:

1. Can you move your shifter but the car doesn't shift? There is a cable or cord that attaches to the base of the column mounted shift lever, and then attaches where the steering column goes thru the dash. I had the bolt or screw loosen up, which allowed my shift lever to move but not actually shift gears. I watched as a tech laid on his back, and reached blindly up past the steering column to tighten it up. A job certain to be frustrating and to cause sore backs, I think!

2. If you can't move the shift lever at all, it may be that the car is on a slight grade, and the parking brake was not preventing some slight movement. So the pin that locks things when shifted into park might have significant side forces against it, making it impossible to shift. If so, ask someone to rock the car back and forth by pushing on a bumper while you try to shift. As he gets it rocking pressure should be decreased on the pin, and you will be able to shift it. Then check to make sure your parking brake is properly adjusted to securely hold the car in place.

I have had the latter happen two or three times in 40+ years of driving...each time the root cause was traced to an incorrectly adjusted parking brake, resulting in pressure on the parking gear pin as it stopped the car from rolling further. In fact, in the 50's Ford Edsels used a pushbutton shifting mechanism, with relays to shift gears. The relays were not capable of exerting much force, so that it was common to get stuck in park: so much so that savvy Edsel owners never put their cars in the park gear, preferring to leave the transmission in some other gear.