Expert: Rob Painter - 12/26/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hello Mr. Painter. 2 days ago I was leaving for work. I put the car in drive and it started going in reverse. I tried every other gear and it still went in reverse. I put the gearshift into park and tried to turn it off, but I could not get the key to turn all the way to the off position or restart. My husband and I had a traveling mechanic come look at my car and he said that the transmission clip had broken in reverse and that is why I can't turn the car all the way off or restart it because it is not in park. So I disconnected the battery cables so that my battery would not drain. I have looked online and cannot find the part he is talking about. He said that he would call us Monday or Tuesday if he could find the part, but I wanted to get an idea of how much this will cost or if he can't find it if I could. Is this the technical name for this part or does it sound like something else may be wrong? Any insight you have would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to your reply.

ANSWER: Hello,

This guy has no clue as to what he is talking about as for a part. There is a cable that runs from the steering column to the transmission. You could possibly over time stretched it. I am sorry, but I do not remember the exact steering column in that car. 1999 I remember because I have rebuilt thousands of them. If you take a photo of the shifter area, it will probably remind me.
On the 99' all you would do is place your left hand on the shift bowl and put pressure counter wist causing it to do to the Park position and the key will come right out of the lock.

No matter what, you are having a problem with the park cable and that is what it is known as.
These cables are made of multiple wires inside a plastic casing. Over time, the wires will begin to break and bind outside the plastic housing.

Watch out for your mobile mechanic. Try starting the car in Neutral and drive to a real repair center and tell them you need either a Park cable or adjustment to it. Do not go to a dealer. Shouldn't cost more than .7 hour to change and have not priced lately, but cable is far below $100.00.

As I said, I don't remember if you have access on that steering column to turn the shift bowl to the left. I can tell you with certainty that is what your problem is.

Don't mess with this guy anymore. Could be very expensive and the car won't get fixed.

Please let me know how it works out.

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---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your quick reply. My shifter is actually a floor column shifter. DO you know how to access it through one of those? Thanks again!!

Answer
Hi Traci

As I said, I don't remember the column design. I hate to sound stupid, but for some reason I don't remember the steering column design on that car. Even worse--I owned one 4 years ago! Except it had the common steering column mounted shifter. The DTS is nothing special. DTS stands for Deville Touring Sedan.
Now that you tell me it is a floor shift, it is even more common for the cable to go. In your case, the cable runs from the steering column to the console. When you are attempting to get the shifter in Park, to put the ignition lock in the lock position in order to remove the key, you are trying to get frayed cable (wires) to go through a little plastic tube. I would not suggest forcing the shifter, you will break it off. The console has to be disassembled to change or service the cable. I have changed many of these cables and trust me, they do not pay enough!

The bottom of the driver's side dash has to be removed and one end of the cable can be observed there. Then the console has to tome apart including the removal of the shift knob. Then the other end of the cable is removed from the shift linkage. The new cable is fished under the carpet and under the console. I like this job so much, I started delegating it to employees-lol Plus I commonly would stick my fingers with the frayed cable which made for even more fun!

All you can do at this point is drive the car to a repair shop as I explained or have it towed. As for your road side guy, I do not like his description. A Park cable is easy to remember.

It's purpose is to guaranty that the key can't be removed without the ignition being locked and transmission in Park.

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