I have an odd electrical issue with the automatic transmission lockout (and instrument cluster?).

When the vehicle sits for any significant amount of time (6 hours or more), it cranks over and starts fine, but the transmission lockout((?) won't disengage, the indicator lights on the shifter blink and click and there is a solenoid-ish sound coming from the instrument cluster (not from the relays/fuse panel).

After a minute or two of the engine running, the blinking-clicking of the shift indicator slows down enough to get it in gear, and after a few minutes of driving the shift indicator stops blinking and the shifter and the cluster stop clicking.

Once the blinking-clicking-lockout goes away, I can then start the vehicle after sitting for short periods -- less than 3-6 hours -- without an clicking-blinking-lockout issues.

With the motor not running, the battery reads about 13.1 volts (battery is one year old) and when running, the voltage across the battery reads 14.2 volts. I understand that these two measurements -- plus the fact that the motor easily cranks over, even if it sits for several weeks -- would seem to indicate that it is not an alternator problem (right?)

Anyone have an idea as to what might be going on here?