2007 XK Coupe....Hopefully there's an easy solution. Gear shift lever is stuck in park, When convenience lites are on, the car is actually in Reverse. The Back assist screen and back up lite is on. if there's no easy fix...is there at least a hidden handle or something to move the shifter to neutral? thank you!...........richard

 

Yes, there is a rip cord under the center console.

 

how might i access that? am I missing that in the owners manual?

 

Pull out the cup holders it is under ther you will see a large plastic screw top , Turn it and pull the cord , That puts car into neutral

 

The rip cord is only available on the 5 litre cars and the OP has a 4.2L.

I don't believe that there is a way to override it on a 4.2L but if the car thinks it is in reverse when it is in park then it sounds like something in the gear lever linkage has come loose.

 

If I remember from when I took my center console out (to fix the sliding ash tray cover), the transmission position cable is behind the carpeted panel on the right side of the console.
Pull the carpeted panel off and then you can adjust the cable.
The service manual in the stickies at the top of this forum will have instructions on removal of that panel (probably in the removal steps for the center console). May even have adjustment steps for the shifter.

 

I believe this is the way to get the car into neutral on a 4.2 litre model. The video shows it on they XJ8 but the procedure is the same AFAIK.

 

Barnsie, I don't think that will work with an X-150. The video looks like an X-350 with a J-Gate. I worked through this when I first got my XKR and found as u102768 says there is no way to get the 4.2L X150 out of park with out a good battery.

 

I agree, you need to take the console apart more to get to the innards of the shifter.
However, that’s not the OPs issue. His shifter is the ‘P’ position, but the car thinks it’s in ‘R’.
So I think the cable from the shifter to the transmission needs adjustment (as I said above), or something in the shifter or transmission broke?

 

OK, fair enough. It's strange though why Jaguar would design that feature out when transitioning the same engine and gearbox from the XJ series to the early X150 series. My car's gearbox, J-shift etc looks exactly like the one on the picture, so it begs the question as to why they would remove a useful feature like that. I wonder if anyone knows?

 

Maybe to make it a little harder on the thief?
Can’t just hop into an open top convertible, pop the trans into neutral, and then just push or tow it away.
Although, they seem to have made it easier with the 5.0 cars, give them a nice cord to pull.

 

Actually, I am talking out of my a$$. My XK gearshift does NOT look like the one in the video - it has the Sport mode to the left and nothing else. I am thinking of the shift in my X-Type which looks like the one in the video, but of course my X-Type doesn't have a 4.2 Litre V8 in it (unfortunately).

<brainfart mode = OFF>

 

So here's what ended up being the problem!. I read on line about a guy who had the exact same issue. he said he got underneath the car and there is a bracket that holds the selector cable. The bracket is mounted to the transmission with two bolts. He was missing both bolts. I was missing one!...The cable gets bound up on an angle. When we reached up and pulled the cable / bracket down to where its supposed to be, it worked as it should. So i got two new bolts and a little Lock tight and thats it!..Fixed!...Hope this helps someone in the future that might have the same issue, and really want to thank you guys that gave their ideas, trying to help me!.................r

 

Great that you returned with your solution to help the next person with this issue

Glad it was accessible to allow a DIY fix, if you do get the chance could you take a pic of the offending bracket and screws?

Thanks again, now to work out if the same arrangement is common in the 5.0 as it is in the 4.2.

 

Would be useful if Mod could add more info to thread title along with RESOLVED. Eg, 2007 4.2 XK stuck in park. RESOLVED.

Thanks to the OP for taking the time to update us on this.

 

Those will be the 2 8mm hex head bolts for the shift cable.

Sadly keeps occurring and being rediscovered!

 

Have same problem on my 2007 XK convertible. Actually found one of the bolts under the car. Will use instructions to fix cable in the morning. Thanks!