my3gr8boyz

Hi, I've read these forums before but never had to ask a question. My '04 Coupe is behaving weird and unfortunately, intermittently. Husband noticed that a couple times recently, the dash lit up D and P at the same time. Car didn't start. Fiddled shifter (I think), D light went off, and car started. Makes sense. The other day, shifter locked. Used key to unlock it. But car would not start. Brake lights work. Solonoid clicks. Dash did not indicate P and D simultaneously. Did not check battery connections, but all inside dash lights bright. When I went outside one more time to check how much the headlights dimmed when attempting to turn over engine, and the car started with no problem whatsoever. Gear shifter staying unstuck.

I've read about transmission range switches, which seems the most likely problem to me since the car had been showing the two gears at once. I'm not sure if I can do the work myself or if my husband has the time to diagnose a lot of what I read about. I was hoping the specific symptoms would give us a place to start. But it's not doing it now, so checking things can be tough. But I'm hesitant to drive it because it could just happen again at any moment.

I searched a lot and haven't found these exact symptoms, but I'm sorry if I've asked a question that is answered elsewhere. One more piece of info is that before this starting issue, the gear shift felt tight to me - a bit hard to move, like a mechanical issue vs. electrical. But now that is working fine, too. Maybe something is loose and it can cause a problem when in the wrong place and be totally fine when in the right place?

Thanks in advance!

Colin42

something got spilled in there and gummed things up?

my3gr8boyz

Not since we've had the car which is 10 months. Could have happened before we had it, but it's also not stiff any more. If it were gummed up, I wouldn't think that could be as intermittent as this problem is...

ezone

Does this mean the electric starter motor did not operate? "No crank" condition?

If it's lighting up more than one letter (PRNDL) at a time then it would seem the range switch is a suspect, but first I'd want to check for fault codes to see if something else may be going on. Range switch is on the end of the automatic transmission, its cover may be visible through the front wheelwell.

Next time it doesn't crank, you could try moving the shifter through the gears and see if each position lights up the correct letter on the dash...and see if it will crank in neutral.

my3gr8boyz

Hi! Yes, the car did not crank at all. Just a click near shifter (solonoid?). It did not turn on while in neutral either.

There is no check engine light on. When you say "check fault codes" I assumed you mean transmission codes? Would those come up even with out the light on? Can we test those codes with our little OBDII reader we have at home, or are those strictly for engine? It's a bottom of the line reader.

So far, car has been behaving.

Thanks!

ezone

I think I misunderstood the part about the shifter being locked, but if the PCM does not detect the shifter is in Park and the PRNDL is not correctly lit in the right gear position, the shift interlock won't be allowed to activate (needed key to release shifter) and the starter won't be allowed to crank the engine. If it was incorrectly lit that may have triggered a fault code that may give more clues, that's why I suggested reading codes.



IF the PRNDL looks like the car is in P (correctly) then it might need a starter. Randomly doesn't crank, then several tries later it works fine...and may for a while before it quits again.
I'd want to check that the small wire for the solenoid hasn't loosened and is making good tight contact (if it's worn and loosened that could make a intermittent connection) along with some standard voltmeter inspections.



Codes can be stored with or without a check engine light, and same for trans related codes. Both systems are contained within the same computer housing (PCM) and are read by the code reader. If you have a code reader just plug it in and see if there's anything stored and make note of it.