Hi all. Sunday my parents had the shifter get stuck in park on their 2000 S Type, which I'm sure others have had. They left for France for 6 months on Monday, so it falls to me to deal with it. I read the TSB provided here (thank you), and I got a call from the dealer saying it would be $1971 to fix it. They gave me a bunch of parts that they said needed to be replaced that weren't on the TSB, so I had to talk to the shop foreman because the service advisor doesn't know squat. His bulletin supposedly includes a parking pawl that's not listed on the TSB here. This is Byers Jaguar in Columbus OH in case anyone's dealt with them.
He also wants to charge me nearly $500 for trans fluid. What's the deal with that? He's got an extra $35 for the manual control lever than I can find it for, and an extra $80ish for the selector cable than what I found. Natural dealer markup, but can trans fluid really be that expensive?

I'm tempted to try it myself, but I don't have a transmission jack. Or a lift for that matter, so I'd be stuck with ramps or the floor jack.

 

I don;t think the tranny fluid for the 2000 is that expensive the have Ford trannies 5R55N and procedures are simple to fill it back up. They require Mercon V fluid.

 

Put a floor jack under the rear end pumpkin and lift the rear wheels off the ground. Get in release the emergency brake and take it out of Park. You might have to rock the wheels a little. Prolly come out of Park.

Yes, transmission fluid for the zf is that expensive but that is a Ford box...

 

Thanks. We tried rocking the car back and forth before having it towed to the dealer. I would've tried with my floor jack, but my parents' driveway is sloped, and I wasn't sure where to put the jack.

If the dealer hasn't gotten it out of park, I guess I'll take the floor jack over there.

 

The parking pawl becoming locked is a known issue if the car is on a slope facing uphill, apparently not a problem facing down. But moving the car forward normally allows it to release. Usual recommendation is to always apply the parking brake firmly before selecting Park. But that doesn't help you get it out once it's happened.....

There is another possiblity - when you put the key in and turn it to the run position you should hear a relay click when you press the brake pedal, if you don't hear the click, the selector cannot be moved from Park, it is possible for the switch on the brake pedal to become defective, there can also be problems with the microswitches inside the J gate so the selector position is not being reported correctly.

500 bucks for fluid - yep that's the dealer price - you can buy Mercon V independantly for half that, and it's a lot easier to get hold off for you guys over the pond, it's pretty rare in the UK. You can also use Dexron III if you add the Lubeguard MV additive, also freely available in the States.

 

Yeah, I knew it was an issue. It happened when my parents first bought the car in 04. I did not know about the switches. I told the dealer I will pick up the car tomorrow, if they haven't gotten it out of park, I'll try and get it out with my floor jack. If not, then I'll have AAA come get it and take it back home. I'll check out the brake relay switch.

 

Separate question, I happen to frequent Byers for years buying & servicing Audis. I have almost always been very pleased with my srvice, but your comment on this woories me ---since I am in the process of klooking for a Jaquar S Type or XK 8 (old series) and wonder if it would be wise to use them for service. I believe the jauar service is in same place/service area as the Audi--so same people. If not, who in Columbus would you recommend? Thanks!

 

Met this gentleman the other day, nice guy.

This was clearly a shift interlock problem: the shifter locked in park, and there was no discernable click from the gear selector with the key on and the brake applied. I don't know S Types, so here is as far as I went to sort him out:

There were two plunge switches on the brake pedal, the lower was easily identified as the brake light switch. I jumped the other one, no success.

Poker already had the center console loose, we lifted it out and I removed the interlock solenoid from the back of the gear selector housing. With the solenoid removed, it was evident that both wires were badly pinched. No ignition switched power to the green wire.

I don't even know where the fuseboxes are in this car, and wasn't in a position to pull diagrams and trace the circuit to find out why there was no feed. He was just concerned about being able to move his gear selector. So I left the interlock solenoid off, $20 and his car is down the road. I guess you'd have to say it wasn't as bad as was initially expected.

 

Thanks for the follow-up post. Always good to hear how these little quirks finally get resolved. Hopefully this will help others down the road as well....

 

i know this post was from last year but im having the same issue in my car and you mentioned that you "left the soleniod off" but when i unplug my solenoid and move the arm so the shifter works i cant remove my keys from the ignition when the car is off. is there another way you bypassed the soleniod? Thank you

 

DO NOT jack up the car using the rear differential!!! Use the factory approved jacking points. The service manual even has a caution about NOT using that spot. Remember that the S-Type has a rear sub frame and you can damage it or throw the rear suspension out of alignment.
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