Waiting for tow truck now. Left a meeting and a mile down the road engine started to rev but car started to slow down. Coasted to side of the road. I have no gears at all. No drive. No reverse. No 2-3-4 manual gears. When I put car in park there is a brief clicking sound and then it seems to engage. Maybe 2 seconds. But dash is normal. No computer codes. No error messages. And no idiot lights. Dealer said he couldn't figure it out and dispatched a tow truck. 2005 with only 27985 miles on it. I do have an aftermarket extended warranty. Guess I will see how good it is. Anyone got any ideas? First problem the car has ever had.

 

Check your tranny fluid level first. If that is where it should be, then you have an internal failure and more than likely a rebuilt/new tranny will be required. if the fluid level gets too low due to a leak or something of the sort, when the tranny pump looses suction, it will toss air into the fluid channels which causes the solenoids to act up, tossing the tranny into neutral, regardless of what gear is selected.

I hope it is simply a low fluid level. But, I would think you would have seen the spot of fluid in the driveway from where it was leaking.

 

Never saw any leaks and it gets regular service. Dealer said maybe a shift cable?

 

Tarheel, well, based on what I know of trannies, I would be really surprised if it is the shift cable. While it is possible, it would have had to break as you were shifting the tranny and you were moving through Neutral. I hope it is something simple and you will have your baby back in no time.

But, looking at the schematics, you may want to have the dealership verify that the wire on the tranny range sensor for the Neutral position is not grounded (white wire, pin #10 on the PCM). If the wire were to get damaged and ground out, that would toss the computer into thinking that you had selected Neutral. It could also be a pin issue since pin #9 is the main ground wire pin for the TCM. I know it sounds silly, but I've seen stranger things.

 

Thanks. I can see me trying to tell this to my dealer. I will let you know what his verdict is tomorrow.

 

Well, this was a nice surprise. According to the dealer the axle clip popped off. They replaced it free for me. They also provided me a complimentary loaner so all I paid for was the tow charge, which is covered by my third party warranty. The way he explained it to me was that a clip held the axle in place and when it popped off the axle slipped out and was no longer getting any power, which cut power to all four wheels. He said there was no damage to the transmission at all. I asked if I damaged Park, since it clicked when I put the car in park, and he said no it was fine. He said it was not a common problem but that he had seen it happen before.

I am planning on getting a 30K service in January and asked about the cost. He gave me a quote of $925.00 for what he termed a "full service", changing all fluids, etc. Does that sound about right?