S80 stuck in park

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael J. Panchula
  • Start date Start date
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Michael J. Panchula

Has anyone encoountered problems with their S80 getting stuck in park?
I've had it happen a couple of times before. Last night it stuck but
good. So good that it took a trip on thetow truck to the dealership.
They won't be able to get to it until Monday. Is there a history of this
(to add to the litany of electrical problems I've heard about)? It's a
1999 model, by the way.

-Mike
 
Michael J. Panchula said:
Has anyone encoountered problems with their S80 getting stuck in park?
I've had it happen a couple of times before. Last night it stuck but
good. So good that it took a trip on thetow truck to the dealership.
They won't be able to get to it until Monday. Is there a history of this
(to add to the litany of electrical problems I've heard about)? It's a
1999 model, by the way.

-Mike
Click to expand...

Like most (all?) modern cars, the S80 has a solenoid that prevents the car
from being removed from Park unless the brake pedal is depressed.

If you try to remove the car from Park without depressing the brake pedal,
it's possible to bend the pin that locks it in Park if it is forced or
manhandled. Once this pin is bent it can stick, making it difficult or
impossible to remove from park. If the pin is jammed the solenoid could
possibly burn out also.

I imagine the solenoid could possibly fail just from normal use but
generally solenoids are very reliable.
 
Not sure, but...did you check the manual about the shift lock?

Hope this helps.

Matt
 
Here's the scoop from the dealer: The culprit was a dirty shifter
mechanism in the console. He said they've seen it before. As we bought
the car used this summer, we have no knowledge about what could have been
spilled by the previou owner. A variant of the "Pepsi Syndrome" I
suspect. Having the pop-up drink holder next to the shifter does seem to
have it's draw backs. The sub-zero temps probably didn't help the
viscosity of the residual soft drink syrups either. Having the pop-up
drink holder next to the shifter does seem to have it's draw backs.

-Mike
 
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