My ’99 Disco II has been giving me intermittent problems with shifting out of park, so I'm finally ready to do something about it. Details below:

1. Brake lights work fine, so I assume no issue with the switches.
2. Fuses all good.
3. Shifter will almost always move out of Park if I do it very quickly upon starting the vehicle. If it sits in Park, it will not then move.
4. Pumping the brake on re-start may or may not release the shifter, it's random.

I slightly pulled up the plastic bezel (the cover with the PRND markings) around the shifter, and on the left side of the stick I can see a silver pin that I can depress manually. This is the pin that the solenoid activates---correct?

I saw another forum post that mentioned "marring" the pin with a chisel so that it would stay depressed permanently (I realize that this defeats the safety feature). This solution, if it works, would be simplest for me since it doesn't require getting into the entire console to properly remove the whole solenoid as many have suggested.

At this point I'm just looking for a simple way to ensure I'm not stuck in some parking lot when the solenoid dies completely. Thanks in advance for reading and any suggestions are welcome!

 

Hi and welcome

Might I suggest you read the RAVE Manual here online regarding the autobox starting at section 44 page 44-1. It may help you understand the autobox and it's control system. May I suggest that until you understand the autobox and it's controls you ignore forum 'quick fixes' as often they never work and sometimes cause more damage.

 

2x as France said. Unless someone had exactly same problem as yours.

 

Thanks for the quick responses. Guess I'll forget the MacGyver-style permanent fixes!

The Disco is sitting at home now so I can't test anything out, but will pressing the pin shown in the Rave Manual below at least get me rolling?