Hi,
I have a two ton beast sleeping on the drive way.
It is an 86 xj6.
I rolled it out (no need to start the motor because it was going down hill) and it engaged into neutral just fine.
Now it is stuck in park. It does not engage in anything else not even N. The stick moves along the track and does absolutely nothing.
It tends to bleed atf, so I added fluid (two liters). Nothing. I jerked it back and forth. Nothing.
I looked under and the cable seems to be connected to its proper place.

Any suggestions?
I feel so bad leaving her out side in the hot and humid Montreal summer....

 

You mean the shifter is moving but it's not doing anything? My money is on the linkage having disconnected itself somehow. Have you tried to move the selector on the gearbox by hand (after securing the car if its on a slope)?

 

Sounds like a shift cable/linkge problem, yes.

The cable could be broken at either end. Or, perhaps....and my memory is a bit foggy here.....the bracket that holds the outer cable secure is broken. This bracket is welded to the underbody. If it breaks I think the entire cable will sorta flop around and won't operate the linkage at the side of the transmission

Cheers
DD

 

Doug probably is on target. As usual. In any cable of this type, the housing must be clamped in place at both ends. This allows the woven wire inside to transmit motion from the shift lever to the trans lever. If it is not clamped, it just flops around and nothing gets done. The housing has a swaged fitting that is clamped at the transmission, if the fiber type housing slips out of the swaged fitting, it mere ly flops and nothing happens

This happened to my car, luckily in my driveway as well. New "improved" version from Johnscars and all has been well.

Mine showed evidence of having been replaced in it's past!

Carl

 

I am restoring a 1986 XJ6. Not running. Stuck in park. Is there a mechanical way to get the transmission out of park?

 

Unless something is broken inside the transmission you should be able to get under the car, disconnect the shift cable and manually move the shift lever

 

Unless the pawl inside the transmission is also "locked in place by torque. It can happen when parking down slope against a curb.


This situation seems similar. The solution is in relieving the torque then moving the transmission out of park. Here after a cable disconnect, As the free moving shift lever indicates the cable is ineffective. If an open differential, one rear wheel jacked up. If limited slip, both!!


Or, one might just have to lift both rear wheels on a trolley jack and Very carefully push, pull, chock it upslope on to level ground.


In any of the cases, utmost care. A must. A loose 3800 pounds is big trouble,. don't ask....


Carl

 

Broken cable.
Be very careful you can start with it IN GEAR.
You need to get the cable serviced!!!

 

If by "stuck in park" you mean the shifter moves but no gear engages and there is no drive to the wheels, try just letting the engine idle in park for 5-10 minutes which pushes the trans fluid around the system.

Sometimes on old autos with poor seals the torque converter leaks down into the pan. Empty torque converter = no drive, once it fills again drive is restored. This symptom especially applies to cars left to sit for a long while with plenty of time to leak down.

Cancel all that, just realised I am responding to the original post and not the more recent hijack.