I have a 1999 Accord, and it won’t shift out of park. Turn it on, depress the brake, no shifting. However, the brake lights also don’t go on. Everything I’ve found on the internet says this indicated a faulty brake light switch and it’s an easy fix.
The mechanic replaced it and said it still doesn’t work. They’re continuing to diagnose. Checking them out from online reviews it doesn’t seem like they’re very highly rated. What are some legitimate things that could also cause these issues/what should I be worried they might try to pin on me?
It’s almost certainly a broken brake switch wire, probably where it passes through the firewall. If you can get ahold of the wiring diagram, you could find out where it plugs into the wiring harness, and bypass the switch at that point, and see if the problem goes away.
I don’t know much about Accords, but most cars have a shift inhibit solenoid. This is a safety device that prevents you from shifting out of park unless your foot is on the brake.
While the brake pedal switch could be at fault, the solenoid can also break as can the wiring. A decent mechanic should be able to check everything with a multimeter and see what’s actually broken. Since the brake light also isn’t coming on you can eliminate the solenoid, but it still could be something in the wiring. Blindly replacing the brake switch isn’t a very smart way of troubleshooting the problem. Maybe you need to find a better mechanic.
Most cars have a small button next to the shift lever or on the shift lever somewhere that you can press to get the car out of park if the shift inhibit system fails. Some cars have a cover over the button and sometimes you need something like a small screwdriver to be able to push the button down. Googling “shift lock release” for your vehicle will probably show you where your release button is located.
I am not a mechanic, but i had similar issue with my 2002 Ford Focus three years ago. It was because a fuse had blown out. It kept happening repeatedly until I had some worn wiring replaced that kept shorting out the fuse.
Yes. The owner’s manual on cars I have owned shows how to push the key into the slot after you pop the cover off. Both of our current cars have it.
Here is a photo of a KIA showing how to:
Dennis
My car does this sometimes, and I have to get behind it and rock it back and forth a few times.
I have no idea why?
I had a car where the parking brake failed in the locked position. Your symptoms don’t match that (it seems like brake lights not turning on is diagnostic), but I put it out there as another way a car can refuse to shift out of park.
Do the brake lights work now?