Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Unable to shift ATX Transmission

Hi,

I was having this werid problem and I'm was wondering if anyone could help out:

one night driving home, I notice my headlights dimm out, so I stop and turn off my car and check the headlights, I found that the battery post are quite dirty and i clean it. Then I started up the car again and the headlight was back on. So when I was ready to shift from Park to Drive and go home, but it would let me. I try multiple times to shift away from Park with good amount of strenght and it still will not work.

Later on the night I went back to where the car was and restarted, i notice the headlight are very dimmed but still on, so i gave it another try to shift from park to any other position, but still can't. So my buddy suggest that I might not have enough power to shift gears so he gave me a jump from his car, and the headlight came back to full and I was able to shift again.

So when i got home, once i put the car back in the Park position and try shifting to neutral/R/Drive, etc it will not work again.

Does anyone has any thought on this?


thanks in advance
-pete
1997 Contour GL ATX
Transmission has been rebuild

The range selector is interlocked by a solenoid that is activated by the brake switch. Always check that the brake lights come on first.

Have your battery tested and if it's OK check for corrosion in the power distribution path (battery terminals, grounds, under the fuse and relay box...)

You can work around a faulty shift interlock by:

1) Turn ignition key forward to the position between LOCK and RUN
2) Shift the transmission into NEUTRAL (Engage parking barake first)
3) Start engine
4) Shift into gear avoiding PARK

There is also a mechanical bypass method listed on page 131 of your owners manual. If you don't have one, go to www.fleet.ford.com and download it from the Maintenance section. They have guides available from 1996 on.

Suggest you have your charging system and battery checked out.

Steve

Sounds like a bad batery. There is a selenoid on the shifter assembly that electronically unlocks the shifter when the ignition is on and the brake pedal is depressed. It's not connected to the range selector on the transmission. One thing that I've noticed with these cars is when a battery is on it's way out all kinds of weird electrical stuff happens. Chances are that nothing is wrong other than the battery. The selenoid just wasn't getting enough juice after the headlights and brake lights sucked it all. The mechanical method is good to know in an emergency though. Basically all you need is a screw driver. On the passenger side of the console you'll notice a little slit. Just insert the screw driver until you feel the lever and just move it forward(if I remember correctly). At that point you will be able to move the shifter through all of the gears unless you put it back in park.

That method seems to be the method usesd with the old cable operated shifter locks. Most cars these days have electric selenoids.

hey thanks for everyone's help,

it was the battery running out of juice, i recharge the battery with a battery charger and will probably go get a new one pretty soon here.

-pete