So today I had the pleasure of getting a call of 'im outta gas' long story short, I get there, dump 2-3 gallons in her and sh starts right up....however the gear shifter wont move out of park. So I fumble with the shifter for a minute and find that little button/solenoid thingy an I push it in and voila, it comes out. Now I come back home, log on here, and search away. Brake light switch. Just got of the phone with NAPA, got 2 on order for pick tomorrow 830 am. From the search button, seems like an easy fix, some minor adjustments so the lights don't always stay on etc.
I got all this, so far (look for post tomorrow screaming for help;-)) but my question to you is this (which I had not run across during my searches) why would Land Rover make it so the brake light switch goes off when you run out of gas an thus cant get out of park? Bad neighborhood prevention?

I chuckle today and wonder what tomorrow brings. :-)

 

They didn't. You just had serendipitous bad luck. Which seams a common thing for those who love Rovers.

 

lucky me, us. Thanks, now I can spend my evening not wondering.

 

so i went out and changed my brake light switch, still no lights. Checked the fuse box, viola, fuse blown. Change fuse, brake lights work properly, great. However, I still cant get the car out of park without hitting that little solenoid/button below the gear shift. Is there a reset button? Any suggestions?

 

I'm not entirely familiar with the specs on that little park lock mechanism but can you check it with a multimeter to see if its getting power? Maybe its toast?

 

so after goggling the question (which I find way easier than using the search) I found that the solenoid is basically a pain in the *** so I took some compound weld an applied that to the shifter, eliminating the groove for the solenoid to go in. However I would like to remove that sucker for a permanent fix. On my disco 1 it's kinda easy to figure out how to remove the gear shift. This one, not so much, think I read somewhere that you just pull really hard? I tried that, maybe need more spinach?

 

So why this happenend I have no clue.

But what I can tell you, is check all of the fuses that say brake lights. Check all of them and then readjust your brake light switch.

 

" why would Land Rover make it so the brake light switch goes off when you run out of gas an thus cant get out of park? Bad neighborhood prevention?"
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No, not at all; its to help Rover owners remember to get gas before they run out---don't laugh; it works really well!

 

Thanks guys, all good now, lesson learned, more to come ;-)

 

In order to remove the gear shifter, put the shifter in neutral... depress the trigger and pull UP really hard, watch out you may break your teeth or give yourself a black eye. I use 2 micro fiber towels for padding & grip. Maybe a full face helmet! After that the shifter bezel will lift up. You will need to remove the the wire connector. It is a bit fiddly, as the British say. You have to unclip the plug gently and depress a clip. it will hinge upward and it will unplug itself. You will understand as you look at it.