1997 CR-V sticks in park
08-17-2017
#1
Registered!!
Thread Starter
1997 CR-V sticks in park Haven't had any luck at other forums with this, so thought I'd ask here...in the General section of the forum. 
(And hey, the CR-V is sort of related to the Civic anyway...)
I have owned the '97 since new (its 20 year anniversary, of purchasing it, is actually tomorrow, August 18). The transmission has mostly been OK but in the past year or two, it has been getting stuck in park.
It's not the shift lock solenoid.
It feels as though something is grabbing in the transmission. In fact, when it finally does let loose (when "snapped" with the shift lever), there is a "clunk" you can feel from the front of the car. I have already had to adjust the linkage once, due to stretching the shift cable.
I did take the shift position switch off of the transmission yesterday and the switch turns freely. Of course, one of the two bolts snapped off (after gently trying to turn it), so I now have to drill it out and chase new threads in it with a tap. It has actually shifted out of park just fine over the past two days. But, it is far worse when the weather is cold, and it has not been cold here in recent months.
Last year, I disconnected the cable from the transmission, and the cable worked very smoothly. At that time, I could also "shift" the transmission by turning the lever that the cable attaches to.
Looking at the service manual, I see nothing around the area of the parking pawl that it could get hung up on, unless the parking pawl itself had some kind of damage to it. Out of habit (from driving a manual tranny for several years back in the 1980s), I always use the parking brake. I come to a stop, apply parking brake, take foot off of brake, then shift into park.
To park it, I now stick the key into the shift lock release and leave it in neutral. That is, when I remember to do it.
I'm at the point where I consider selling this as a mechanic's special, but I need to hand it down to family, to use temporarily. (My youngest is heading off to college.) It has a lot of rust, both the body and on the undercarriage, so working on anything is a challenge. That snapped off bolt was actually quite corroded. I did upper and lower ball joints, plus a tie rod and new tires, just last summer.
A shop would probably want at least $900 to drop it and take a look at the innards. It otherwise shifts fine. So it technically wouldn't need a master rebuild kit but, if it's already open, it would make sense to go ahead and do it anyway.
I've considered a drain-and-fill to see if fresh fluid might help. But, I kind of doubt it.
Just curious if anyone here has ever heard of this. I've searched a lot around the Internetz, and everything seems to revolve around the shift lock solenoid and mechanism, which this is NOT.
(And hey, the CR-V is sort of related to the Civic anyway...)I have owned the '97 since new (its 20 year anniversary, of purchasing it, is actually tomorrow, August 18). The transmission has mostly been OK but in the past year or two, it has been getting stuck in park.
It's not the shift lock solenoid.
It feels as though something is grabbing in the transmission. In fact, when it finally does let loose (when "snapped" with the shift lever), there is a "clunk" you can feel from the front of the car. I have already had to adjust the linkage once, due to stretching the shift cable.
I did take the shift position switch off of the transmission yesterday and the switch turns freely. Of course, one of the two bolts snapped off (after gently trying to turn it), so I now have to drill it out and chase new threads in it with a tap. It has actually shifted out of park just fine over the past two days. But, it is far worse when the weather is cold, and it has not been cold here in recent months.
Last year, I disconnected the cable from the transmission, and the cable worked very smoothly. At that time, I could also "shift" the transmission by turning the lever that the cable attaches to.
Looking at the service manual, I see nothing around the area of the parking pawl that it could get hung up on, unless the parking pawl itself had some kind of damage to it. Out of habit (from driving a manual tranny for several years back in the 1980s), I always use the parking brake. I come to a stop, apply parking brake, take foot off of brake, then shift into park.
To park it, I now stick the key into the shift lock release and leave it in neutral. That is, when I remember to do it.
I'm at the point where I consider selling this as a mechanic's special, but I need to hand it down to family, to use temporarily. (My youngest is heading off to college.) It has a lot of rust, both the body and on the undercarriage, so working on anything is a challenge. That snapped off bolt was actually quite corroded. I did upper and lower ball joints, plus a tie rod and new tires, just last summer.
A shop would probably want at least $900 to drop it and take a look at the innards. It otherwise shifts fine. So it technically wouldn't need a master rebuild kit but, if it's already open, it would make sense to go ahead and do it anyway.
I've considered a drain-and-fill to see if fresh fluid might help. But, I kind of doubt it.
Just curious if anyone here has ever heard of this. I've searched a lot around the Internetz, and everything seems to revolve around the shift lock solenoid and mechanism, which this is NOT.
08-17-2017
#2
The legs in the public bathroom stall
Re: 1997 CR-V sticks in park
Just asking some questions.
Does it do this on level ground or only on hills?
You say it isn't the shift solenoid, that means that you can move the lever towards you and it will start its journey towards reverse but there is heavy resistance to moving.
Brake lights are working at the time of the problem?
A somewhat common issue is the pivot on the shift linkage at the transmission. If the pivot gets enough rust it can bind instead of moving.
Honestly if it was mine I would likely start at a shift cable and go from there. The fact that it needed adjusted for stretching tells me that it has wear on it. Something the old cables will do is they will separate internally and not work properly.
Does it do this on level ground or only on hills?
You say it isn't the shift solenoid, that means that you can move the lever towards you and it will start its journey towards reverse but there is heavy resistance to moving.
Brake lights are working at the time of the problem?
A somewhat common issue is the pivot on the shift linkage at the transmission. If the pivot gets enough rust it can bind instead of moving.
Honestly if it was mine I would likely start at a shift cable and go from there. The fact that it needed adjusted for stretching tells me that it has wear on it. Something the old cables will do is they will separate internally and not work properly.
