Other XC90 Problem: Stuck In Park Answer

[400-ascona]

Due to the unhelpful post left by another member I thought I would post the answer to his post separately (he will undoubtedly claim this is not the answer, but that is in line with the juvenile behaviour being demonstrated). Someone may choose to delete the "Stuck in Park" post created by Lewis2010 as it serves no benefit.

My brother experienced this problem on his 2004 D5 Exec. So I know the non electrical issue exists. I took a couple of pictures of the mechanical mechanism that locks the gear lever in the park position.

The first picture shows the general lay out and the lever in gear. A cable runs from behind the ignition switch down to the passenger side of the gear lever. It has a threaded bar on the end that is retained by the yellow plastic cap. The control cable runs along the green line I have drawn in:



The next picture shows the position of the mechanism when ignition is off (key out). The cable pulls in the direction of the blue arrow, the white block moves up in the direction of the green arrow, and stops the gear lever moving (red arrow):



The next picture shows the position of the mechanism in the unlocked position (key in), ignition on. The cable pushes in the direction of the blue arrow, pulling the white block down in the direction of the unfilled green arrow, allowing the gear lever to move back in the direction of the solid green arrow and therefore unlocking the gearlever:



If you find yourself in Lewis2010's situation, instead of paying an electrician a small fortune to fix the obvious like he did, just remove the passenger side transmission tunnel carpet trim, and you should be able to get at the mechanism and move it manually to get you moving temporarily.

It looks like the yellow cap and threaded bar are adjustable. so it may be that it has just pulled through. The other alternative will be a dodgy cable.

Hope you find this a little more helpful.

Regards,

Rob.

[Ron_XC90]

Thanks Rob, as always great post with excellent photos and description. Shame not all people are like this...

[EdwardG]

Thank you - most helpful. Looks as if I have the same problem on my MY2007 XC90 Exec. Lever sticks in park but feels mechanical as a strong pull will move it - at the moment!

[galloot633]

Great write up, mine , my06 , started sticking a couple of months ago, I removed the trim on passenger side and gave the area a spray with gt85, been ok so far ( fingers crossed)
Dave

[DTBK]

This was extremely useful - thank you!

My wife's 2004 XC90 has started to get stuck in park. Had it in to a local garage who basically did nothing other than hook it up to computer and with no clear error message, refuse to look any further in to it advising that we should either get rid of the car (which is certainly on the horizon, but not quite yet) or take it to a gearbox specialist.

Having found this forum post, I took the trim apart and could see the mechanism described and that intermittently the white block (circled white in your first picture) wasn't moving all of the way down when the ignition was turned on.

I couldn't get the passenger side trim off entirely so access was limited to say the least but with some trial and error I worked out that if I turned the key quickly to the second position it *would* move this block all of the way down every time.

I've put it all back together again now and so long as we turn the ignition key quickly it works without fail. I suspect though that this is something that will get progressively worse so... I wondered... can anyone explain the logic as to why the speed at which the ignition key is turned determines whether or not the gear selector is stuck in park?

My gut feeling is that the cable possibly needs cleaning or re-greasing but then I'm no mechanic... can someone with more technical knowledge than me elaborate whether it could be something else at play.

TIA

[Montymax]

Thank you for the excellent expiation of how the gear lever housing works.
Mine started to stick on Wednesday when I was about to take it for its MOT. Luckily it freed and it behaved its self for the garage.
As with the last post, if I turned the key quickly it was ok. The key has a cam that pushes the cable that pushes the yellow cable retainer backwards that in turn brings down the square button.
As I turned the key the cable did push the yellow knob backward, but to the side causing it to jam. When the key was turned quickly it didn't jam. I removed the gear lever surround and un screw the top of the trim(cup holder section) to expose the workings and sprayed silicon spray over the cable and inside the housing behind the yellow knob and the plastic arm it is connected to. It is now working again.

In an emergency open cup holder and carefully pull up the gear lever surround. Minding the cables. Slide your hand down the left side until your finger finds the square button. With the ignition on and your foot on the brake you can slide this button down, at the same time pull back the gear lever with its lever pushed in as you would normally would do. Worked for me. Thankfully.

[Rob Smith]

Many thanks for the information.

I was really worried when this started happening, so I was very pleased to find this thread.

I have just been out to my 07 XC90. I uncliped what covers I could easily unclip, and poked a modelling brush laden with GT-85 around the mechanism, moving the ignition key round and back, and sliding the little white square. It doesn't seem to be jamming any more. Indeed, the gear shift feels really smooth!

Just waiting for the GT-85 smell to clear!

[AB-UK]

Perhaps ADMIN could create a "sticky" for such clearly explained fixes.

[jamesholley]

Great write up, thanks. Might spend 15 minutes this weekend doing a preemptive lubrication session.

[Essfortee]

Thanks for this post
It is exactly what problem I have, the ignition when switched is not pushishing the cable far enough. The white piece in the pics was a bit stiff but I’ve lubricated it all and it’s nice and smooth but still not going fully down, it does look like the cable needs adjusting to make it pull the white piece down fully.
Has anyone done this? If so can you gimme some tips so I don’t break owt...
Thanks Lee