Okay, so I am yet another guy with a '97 Disco stuck in park.

Fuses are good, brake lights (well, one of them) work, shifter button feels fine, so I want to check out the solenoid that unlocks the shifter. I generally consider myself pretty handy with a wrench so this is prettty embarrassing to write...

How the hell do I get the center console out???

I removed the two screws in front of the transfer case shifter. I removed the two screws in the storage bin. I unclipped the power window/heated seat panel...

I have a few inches of movement on the back of the console and maybe an inch and a half towards the front. Nothing feels locked- it is like a soft stuck. I am afraid I will brake something if I use any more force though. I actually stopped messing with it when I got enough movement to see that it didn't really look like there was much to be had under it.

Any advice? The dealer quoted mme 30 minutes labor to replace the solenoid but a local shop said it could take 4 hours. I *feel* like I am making this harder on myself than it needs to be.

Suggestions or ideas?

I would love some real time help if anyone is on yahoo or aim.

Thanks,
T

turnertim_2000 on yahoo
turnertim 2000 on aim

 

You might want to replace the brake light that's not working. Read this: http://www.LandRoverForums.com/m_51824/tm.htm

 

Hi Wesk and thank you for the quick reply.

Reading that thread seemed to poing back to the brake indicator switch on the pedal being hosed. Do you really think that something that makes the driver's side brake light not come on but that does not cause a problem with the passanger side light is keeping me in park?

Something I did not mention in my first post because I was/am pretty convinced I need to look to the solenoid is that the problem was intermittent for almost a year before it got perma-stuck. I typically with some combination of jiggling/banging/cursing/praying the shifter would move within a minute or so. It seemed worse when it was cold- and often as it would unstick I felt like I could SENSE the sliding free... at different times I was convinced the trick was to press to the left, or down, or not fully depress the button... At this point I am pretty sure that my techniquee was totally irrelevent.

Anyway, part of the reason I am pretty sure it is the solenoid is that the brake light has been out since I got the truck a year (two years?) ago and the problem with the shifter was off and on before completely failing me.

If you guys think it would be easier to go through and sort out that brake light before I go back to the center console I am game. Although I started sniffing around that problem once and was intimidated by all the wires.

 

A test, run a jumper wire from the rear window defroster clip to your 3rd. brake light wire, turn on the rear defroster then start your engfine. If you can now shift with the defroster on, you have a bad brake switch.
Don't forget to turn off the defroster.

 

The good, the bad, and the stupid.

I am hoping that the advice is good, the parts are bad, and I am the stupid. Any other combination will mean trouble!

Mike, I waas going to write back and ask several questions on how to execute your test. But I decided to go muck about for a bit first. A while ago when I wanted to verify the brake lights I started her up, put my son in the driver's seat, and had him press the pedal for me. This is how I knew that the passenger side worked and the driver side didn't. But I couldn't recall the state of the third light. I don't have anyone with me today so I dismantled the pool net so I had a long enough rod to press the brake pedal while standing behind the car.

I made sure everything reached, started the car, walked behind it, and... (drum roll) passanger side and 3rd light were on. What the heck? Not "on because I pushed the pedal" but just on. I thought maybe they are on because the eemergency brake is on? (I don't normally use it but it is pulled at the moment) so I put that down and checked again. Still on. Weird. So, I had to test it, and, of course, it shifted out of park.

I used this opportunity to back it into the driveway so I can more easily check the lights when I am alone (using the garage door reflection.

Anyway, so now my brake lights are stuck on and the car is shifting. What does that tell us?

Previously, the passanger brake light worked, the driver did not, I am not sure about the 3rd, and it was stuck iin gear. Now it shifts freely, but the lights (all but driver) are stuck on.

Here is a list of crap I messedd with earlier.

Two sensors mounted above the brake. I wiggled, prodded, pullled, and manually pressed the buttons. It was not clear how to remove them without just snapping them off- which I am pretty sure is wrong. I did rotate the bottom one in a circle trying to see if there was a "pull it out" position. I didn't find one and I put it back. Note: the description of my problem was written after I had done this.

Center console.

Removed rubber matting around shifters, removed and replaced passanger side bulb trying to see if there was a clasp under it or somethinng.
Removed two screws in front of tcase shifter.
Removed storage bin lid.
Removed two screws from bottom of storage bin.
Removed 4 screws from window switch panel, pulled window switch panel out- looked behind it, didn't want to remove wiring, let it dangle.
Wiggled the **** out of the ebrake handlle trying to see if I could figure out how too remove or adjust it (thinking it was preventing the center console from coming out).
Pulled lighter socket halfway out to make sure it wasn't hard mounted to something in back- it didn't so I figured it is just a wire back there- but it didn't want to come more than halfway out so I left it.
Top of shifter, removed panel, manually tried lifting the bar thing, this did not work to release the brake. Removed the clip and... other little block dealy to see if I could lift anything all the way out- I could not. I left this off. When I was able to shift a few minutes ago I was using pliers to lift the bar.
Molded plastic center console cover- generallly manhandled the heck out of this. The back lifts 4 or 5 inches. I can also move the whole thing mmaybe an inch or so towards the back of the car. It was not clear to me how this would come off without there being a clasp I couldn't see or breaking something. So I came in and found this forum.

Where in that list did I do something that would A) make the brake lights stay on, and B) what does that tell us about the solenoid?

My only concern is that since the problem was there intermittently for so long- that it could just "be worrking again" and confusing the troubleshooting situation.

Thoughts?

 

I am heading out right now, you might want to send me your tele number and a good time for me to call you tomorrow.
mikeljacobs@comcast.net

 

DId you get the 2 screws out of the glove box? When you have the "little block thingy" out of the shifter, pull the button out and the handle should lift out. Make sure the **** is off the transfer case shifter.. YOu will have to engage the e-brake as much as you can, lift the back up, and then pull the console out. It is a PITA.

Feel your brake switch. There is a little plunger going out to make contact with the lever on the pedal. With the pedal pushed it, pull the little plunger out so it is fully extended. THey tend to get pushed back into the switch too far. If it isn't long enough (pushed back into the body), it thinks the pedal is pushed, giving you brake lights. THey only come on with the key on. Not like US cars, where they come on any time the pedal is depressed.
Hope this helps a bit.

 

I would like to go back to the stuck in park bit- the console is a lesser priority. I replaced the brake light switch today- and am still stuck in park with no brakelights. Here is an update:

I've got a 97 Discovery with what, on the surface, appears to be the dreaded "stuck in park" problem. I am, in fact, stuck in park. However, my problem seems to be different than the ones I've read about.

First off, I had this problem intermittently for over a year. The car would stick and require a few tries probably once a week. It got a lot worse over the last couple of months and then stuck completely. I didn't drive the car for almost two months, then, suddenly, it worked again- for about a week. Now it is stuck again.

At this time my brake lights are not working. Over the last week, when I was able to shift, I noticed my brake lights were ALWAYS on.

I replaced the brake light switch on the pedal today- I am still stuck in park with no brakelights.

Of the three brakelights (driver, passenger, 3rd) the driver one has never worked. The bulb appears good. Even during the "brakelights stuck ON" period that light was dead. Tonight I sprayed some electrical contact cleaner into the socket- but since the lights aren't coming on at all I cannot confirm if this helped.

All of my fuses are good except the weird alarm one with the yellow phone cord coming off it. I did not check this one for fear it would do something to disable the starter or whatever.

There is a trailer hitch that looks after-market. But no sign of any tampering with the wires- no trailer lights plug or anything like that.

Any suggestions on what I can do next? My car is stuck at the grocery store at the moment and I am scared they will notice and tow it soon.

Thank you for any suggestions.

 

I would buy new blubs its hard to look and see if a bulb is
good and if all the blubs are not working it maybe the same
as the brake switch being bad.

 

I'm not a 100% convinced it's the brake lights causing the problem. Maybe it is, you guys know better than me. But when my Rover was stuck in Park it was that stupid little clip on top of the gear shifter that was my problem. If you take a utility knife you can easily pop off the plastic cover that is on top of the shifter. Look at the clip and make sure it is on correctly and lifting the rod that allows the gear selector to shift out of Park. It will only take 1 minute of your time and worth the look.
Good luck.