I recently had a tow truck guy move my car and he seems to have broken something with my shifter. i can now freely move the shifter from park to drive while the car is off and no foot is on the brake. i think it would even let me move from drive to reverse while i'm driving as the mechanism that is supposed to prevent this seems to be broken now. Any ideas what it might be that was broken?

The black circular disc is visibly broken off as i can now see down into the assembly.

I also ordered what i thought should have been a replacement shifter assembly for my car but after pulling my current shifter assembly out, instead of the 3 switch connectors (drive-to-4th, neutral, park) that my replacement part came with, my assembly has what i believe is called a linear switch instead (black box on the side). Is there part of this replacement part I got that I can still use to fix my issue?

part number 27 is what is on my car currently where i was expecting 3 switch connectors to be instead

this isn't my disc, but it's a picture of the part that's broken off in my car

this is what the replacement part looks like that i already purchased and was expecting to swap in. part numbers 2, 3, and 4 are on the replacement where i have the linear switch instead on my car.

 

this is my shifter. you can see half the black disc is now missing and you can see below into the assembly

 

He just 'forced' the lever and broke the plastic selector lever housing??????

All the cars that sat a while and came from auctions to our dealer in the late 1990s/early 2000s had broken housings because the 'lot-jockeys' hated the dead battery, locked gearshift so they learned that a HARD JERK to the rear with the lever would break the case and the lever would slide easily out of PARK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must have replaced over a dozen a year there for while.

IF you replace the case/housing also check the steel lever itself for BENT.
I sometimes had to renew the lever as well because they BEND and then will not engage the left side of the J gate.

 

Much appreciated insight.

When you say plastic selector housing, Is it just that broken disc or the whole plastic box that you think would need to be replaced? Since I have this replacement assembly already, I can take the parts off of it that I need for this fix.

and I think you are right about the lever being bent, it's already not touching the sensor on the j gate so it starts beeping when I turn off the car.

Thanks

 

The HOUSING is where EVERYTHING bolts and pivots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forget about the 'illumination module'. It has NOTHING to do with your issue.

 

I have a different shifter assembly arriving today that I think will be the correct/compatible component for my year/model (linear switch version).

I'm going to try and replace my broken one with this assembly. Any tips for how to loosen the selector lever cable adjustment nuts? regular elbow grease and wrenches don't seem to do the trick as far as I've tried so far.

thanks

selector lever cable adjustment nuts

 

I used to use a 22mm and a 7/8" open end wrenches on the nuts and twist the cable nuts apart to adjust it.

 

Also be aware that if the Brake Light Switch is faulty or adjusted incorrectly, and the lights STAY ON, then the shifter will come out of park because technically, the brake pedal is ALREADY depressed!!!!!!!!!!!(electrically)