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Friday, April 23, 2004 |
| Mazda MPV stuck in park So, my kids were playing in the car today and they pushed all the buttons and flipped all the switches. And stuffed coins in places that were not designed to take coins. One of the things they accomplished was to break the shift-lock solenoid. This is a part in the steering column that locks the transmission until the driver puts his foot on the brake. This means that I can't shift out of park. There is a little hole in the steering column where if you pull the cap off, you can press and manually override the shift-lock. So, all we have to do is press this button when we want to shift out of park. I would like to think that I can replace the solenoid myself. The only thing is, I'm not sure it is the solenoid itself that is broken or some wiring somewhere. There is no longer a square around the P or R or D on the dashboard to tell me what gear the car is in and that makes me worry about deeper electrical problem. -UPDATE: one of the things they stuck coins into was the hole for the cigarette lighter. That blew a fuse. For some reason that fuse also governs the shift-lock solenoid even though the book doesn't say that. So I replaced the fuse and everything works. 10:41:08 PM  comment []
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Last update: 5/1/2004; 12:58:19 PM .
