Long time since I've been on here. I am running a 98 Disco with about 160k v8 automatic as a project truck. Two issues:

1: About two months ago, I noticed hard shifting from park to drive and so on. The other night we had a big snow storm (I am in Virginia). Upon trying to get the truck out I realized I now could not shift out of park. I assumed it was an issue of water freezing in the shifter from a leaking rig, but after it ran for a few minutes I could start (still tough and took lots of effort).

Fast forward to today, I go to start the truck and it would not shift out of park even when warm. I jerked on it for a bit, and finally about 30 minutes got it to shift to drive. I then parked it in the garage. After I turned it off the no shifting from park returned. I have brake lights and it shifts sometimes, but is very hard to shift to pull from park, to drive, to reverse. Any ideas?

2: After this snowstorm I went to start and found a hard click, it was about 10 degrees. I assumed bad starter, but today at 38 degrees it turned over fine. Frozen starter?

Thanks in advance!

 

My first thought is you have water in your transmission that's freezing the shift lever and locking up the gears causing the motor to seize and not turn over. However, I'm sure that is unlikely.

My advice for the shifting: crawl under the rig, disconnect the trans shift cable (located just in front of trans mount on drivers side, pull cotter pin from stud, pull stud from lever), now with truck running try shifting inside the cab. If you can shift from inside the cab, then it is something wrong with your transmission. If you can't, then either the shift lock solenoid is frozen or your shifter is sticking and needs greased.

Don't forget to reinstall shift cable.

I hope this helps.

 

Great points. Can I disable or grind the solenoid? I find it very bizzare that the hard shift issue has gone from occasional to a serious problem. Worth noting, I can start the truck now, but it will not shift. Also, I have had leaks getting water in the shifter 100%. How do I pull the shifter out and lubricate? I'm tempted to spray WD40 inside shifter to see if it helps. This has gradually progressed from hard shift to park locked. Before this it always shifted with lots of effort. The starter issue totally confused me. The transmissions shifts great when running and has clean fluid.

 

You could remove it the solenoid (if I recall correctly) but I recommend keeping it by fixing or replacing since it is a good safety piece to keep.

However, to pull the shifter out you need to remove the center console completely. Then there will be 4 screws holding the shifter in place. Remove those and with a little maneuvering you can pull the shifter up and out. You won't have much slack to pull it out that far unless you undo the pin to the trans selector lever and unbolt the cable bracket with a 13mm that is sitting on top of the trans mount. It is possible though to disassemble and lube it right there in the seat, choice is yours (I recommend you remove it completely).

Once it is out, tilt it on its side and remove the 4 side screws. Pry it apart, then remove the grounding bolt on the shift lever. When removed you can pull the side cover away from the shift box.

What to do from here is up to you.


My added recommendations, after removing the center console and shift cover (black selector piece) with the car in ACC and brake pushed in, try shifting out of park. Look on the passenger side, inside, of the shift box and take note if the solenoid is retracting or not. If it is, then you'll want to clean and lubricate. If not then remove and replace.

Also, if the selector lever is rusted, I recommend a full disassembly to scrub it all with a wire brush and pack with grease. If you need help with this part, let me know. There should be instructions on removing the center console somewhere on here, if not I'll type them up for you.

Good luck!

 

As far as your starter a thing I have done, you know professional test. Before you start it crawl under and give it a light wack with a hammer or such, or mallet. If it starts up after that then your starter is probably bad, if not. Well then I would probably pull it and see if you can spin it by hand. If it spins by hand could be nothing more than a bad/corroded connection, or a bad solenoid . Hope this helps ya out