Expert: Roland Finston - 11/21/2011

Question
I have a '99 300M with just 52,000 miles that has had a sticky shifter -- tough to pull it out of park, especially when parked on a hill. On Thursday, it got really stuck in Park and the cable came off the shifter mechanism. So bad, that I had to stick a screwdriver on the end of the cable and yank on it to get to move out of park. I then put it back together and it seemed ok, although the trans didn't want to engage right away. But I went down the street and then when I went to turn around it refused to engage, as in the motor and trans looked like they were in gear but no forward (or reverse) motion resulted.

I though maybe it was the solenoid core or the valve body, but a mechanic I've been using said it needs a new trans for $3,000. He seems like an honest guy, and past work has been great. The trans was working perfectly, so I'm struggling to understand how the trans could have just died and now supposedly needs to be replaced with such low miles. The car doesn't drive at this point, so it has to be towed. Any thoughts?

Answer
Hi Brian,
I can't believe that sort of history can totally ruin the transmission. Has the mechanic  tried a fault code readout of the transmission control module memory to see what it shows the problem to be? That is done with a plug-in code reader via a socket that is under the dash next to the steering column and shouldn't cost more than $40 to get that result. Ask for the fault code readout number(s), what they mean, and what he recommends to do and for how much?
At worst it seem to me that some part of the shift lever mechanism/valve body/gear lever position sensor/parking brake pawl module which are parts connected to the cable lever could have been damaged but that entity is entirely removable from underneath by dropping an oil pan and disassembling that part. That should be done first in the absence of any fault code that says there is serious internal damage that clearly requires a removal and tear down involving all the many parts that were not in play when this happened. I would also ask for/seek out another independent (non-franchise) type of transmission shop that knows the Chrysler transmissions, have it towed there for a second opinion. $3000 is so much that you need that second opinion.
Please let me know what you find out.
Roland