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Auto tranny not staying in Drive! Please help figure out what's wrong!

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eclipseGSTud

15+ Year Contributor
338
2
Mar 10, 2005
Party City, California
Hi guys,

Well, just came back from a oil change. Worst experience ever since they locked my keys in there, they try to use a bar to unlock the driver's side (unsuccessful), then locksmith comes, etc. After I'm finally able to get back into my car again, I drive off, the car felt fine. I drove home which is about 2 blocks, parked the car, then discovered that my driver side door wouldn't open from the outside. I get back in, start the car, and try to go back to the place again to check out the lock. I put the car in reverse, then stop, and put it in drive. Problem is it won't stay in Drive. It goes up to N when I move the shifter to D. I try moving the shifter down to 2 or L, but it goes back up to N. I can use P,R, N, but not D, 2, L. It seemed tight (hard to push the shifter back to D-L. Now it would kind of stay in D, but easily gets out if I touch it a little. If I hold the shifter down in D, I can drive the car. I hear no grinding, or smell anything out of the ordinary. I'm unable to check underneath the car for leaks right now because it's raining. I don't want to damage anything so the car is parked right now until morning when I can get a better look to figure things out. There is no CEL flashing. Does anyone know what the problem could be?
 
Its a long shot, but when I had mine rebuilt a few years back the shop hadnt put the bar that actually shifts the tranny gears in the right position, possible the shop moved it or bumped it out of alignment when they were under the hood. Also what you might want to check is try taking out the console and see if anything is catchin on the shifter to hold it. Like I said, its a long shot but it might help ya out.
 
Thanks for your suggestion, Eclipse45150! I'll check that out tmr morning when there's light out. I'm actually angry/frustrated right now so to avoid doing anything stupid I'm going to calm down first and think about the situation. Please keep the advice coming!
 
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