I have an 05 Coupe, Auto Transmission. 2 months ago, while attempting to shift to reverse to pull out of parking spot, The tranny would not shift out of 'park'. Had it towed to my Chevy dealer which I have a long standing relationship with. The diagnosis was that the 'plastic bushing on the tranny cable had broken and the cable had to be replaced. I was furious because the part was $100.00 and labor was $400.00. My point was: why would the designers use plastic instead of metal for this bushing? I live in Southeast Florida. Plastic degrades over time no matter where you live, especially in hotter regions. General Motors Customer Service was of no help in this matter, stating that the car was out of warranty. It was like talking to a wall. Poor design and poor choice of materials is the cause, not how I drive it.

A week ago, the tranny, once again, was sticking in park. It's happened another 4 times. Each time, after playing with it, It finally came out of park and tranny was operating normal. I took it too Chevy dealer. I was told by my service manager that it was either the switch under the brake pedal or the solenoid at the transmission stick was going bad. Of course it had to be the solenoid. Over $250.00 for the part and $300. for labor. This is a job I can probably do myself. But still, you cannot purchase just the solenoid but have to purchase the entire stick with the solenoid attached.

My point is this: What the hell is going on with 'parts replacement' that one has to purchase entire units, rather than just the defective part? Secondly, coincidence that my tranny requires 2 separate parts at the same time to function properly, has got to be a million to one. Am I getting scammed by the dealer? At 61, I have had my days with manual trannys and specifically wanted an auto tranny. I do not play with it that often that I should not have even required either of these parts replaced.

Any advice and feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Brad, bradmarca@aol.com

 

I get it, but it is an 8 year old car.

 

I am subscribing to this thread because my 05 A4 is starting to have similar problems in trying to get it out of park. On page 2-31 of the owners manual it says to put the car in accessory mode and then shift to neutral if you can't get it of park. So I tried that, but it did not help me. Normally I would hear a clicking noise when I apply the brake pedal, but when it sticks in park I do not hear that click noise when stepping on the brake. I would like to fix it myself if I knew what part to replace.

 

My opinion only!

This was a bogus repair. Either the dealer was grasping at straws because they had no clue what was wrong or.........you know.



This was the problem all along. Very common failure seen dozens, maybe hundreds of times here.

One member shared his DIY technique for disabling the Shift Interlock Solenoid to end his frustration permanently. See post 12 in this thread (also has a pic from another member):

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...d-located.html

 

I don't know if this is related, but I was told if I parked on a hill to apply the E Brake "FIRST" then put it in Park so the trans is NOT holding the weight of the car on the hill..

However, my E Break SUCKS ! and will not hold the car even on a slight grade...I make every effort not to park it on a steep hill...

So far I've been lucky with my 05 (with 40,000 miles on it) I have to say I VERY VERY rarely park it on any type of hill or incline..

 

it was very simple to do myself no manual or anythingdo it before your stranded some where

 

it's hard to tell if the OP even has a hill to park on, John---no location in profile. but, otherwise, I tend to think both RickT and timd are correct; it was a different part that was going bad originally, and it IS an eight year old car (you can expect that things will go wrong, eventually).

 

Bill.... I think there is a BIG difference between an 8 yr old Corvette, & an 8 yr old Caviler or Impala...

Hell my Vette is an 05 with 40,000 miles on it, & I think its in as new condition..Most (not all) Corvette owners tend to take better care of them than their daily driver... Just my thoughts...

 

That shifter lock solenoid can be completely disabled permanently with nothing more than a pair of wire cutters. It's one of the first things I did to my car when I bought it a year ago.

I don't recall the details... but it was incredibly simple. I think I chopped the plastic detent pawl off. (can't remember exactly)

Only drawback is that the shifter can be pulled out of park at any time.

"Big friggin deal" if you ask me. Sure beats the alternative... (getting stranded somewhere)

It IS nice to be able to reach into the car and pull it into neutral if I want to push it around in the garage without starting the motor.

 

OP: I had to replace both of those items "stick" & "cable" on my 07, since I have a great mech that I go to, these problems have been resolved and now I am back to driving. I would say that it was about 30,000 miles between the two failures. My 07 now has over 145,000 miles on it and runs great.

 

My chevy mechanic (whom I've taken very good care of over the years) strongly suggested I replace the part which I can do myself. Part cost me $218.00 plus tax. I've been debating it since I stopped having problem. I have the part in hand. However, mechanic said solenoid is now working because weather is cooler ( I live in Southeast , Florida). But when summer roles in forget about it. The combined heat coming out of center console area on all our vettes plus high outside temps will cause the solenoid to fail again. Also, he said, solenoids will cycle back and forth between working and not working until one day it will cycle off and stay off. Keep in mind for anyone else that is going to replace this part, you need a very long needle nose pliar with a ball curved tip at end to disconnect/reconnect the bottom link to tranny. He loaned me his. So, I'm just going to replace it today. Getting stuck someplace sucks and it's always going to be the worst time to get stuck. Like the rest of you, I've spent too many man-hours and $$$ upgrading performance and cosmetics to not having it work correctly. I'll let you know if I run into difficulties or not. On another note, the current Car & Driver mag has a pic of the new C7. The front end looks like a lambhorgini and the rest doesn't do much for me. I love my C6 and it looks like a vette. Not sure about the C7? Thanks again, Brad

 

just wondering why you would reinstall a part with a potential of failure to happen again, from what your mechanic described the symptoms of failure, it has happened a lot and will happen again, $218.00+tax a borrowed tool all to happen again when you can eliminate it for free

 

PM sent.

 

I take really good care of my '05 Corvette. No shifting problems with my Auto Transmission.