1997 850 Auto tranmission stick question

Post by **scot850** » 04 Jul 2016, 23:18

I may have an issue with the transmission lock out with this car as the starter won't turn, and I noticed that when I was using the transmission lock over-ride to allow me to turn the front axles, that it appeared you are able to move the shift stick without having to press the button on the front of the gearshift knob. What allows that to happen? Broken shift knob or something else?

Thanks,

Neil.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 05 Jul 2016, 07:19

possibly- but my son's 850 was like this and stated without an issue. If you are still having starting issues, you might try putting it in Neutral and cranking it- otherwise, PNP switch may be suspect. Do your back up lights come on when you put it in the "R" position? The other trick that comes to mind is "rowing" the shifter up and down from P to lowest gear and back up again 8-10 times...then if it starts, it's pretty much the PNP switch.

Post by **erikv11** » 05 Jul 2016, 10:52

If I understand you correctly, you are saying that once you have the lever into position R, you don't need to push the button to freely move the lever back and forth through all the positions that are not P. That sounds to me like the shifter mechanism is stuck in a depressed position, so yeah its either the button or the mechanism is sticky. Pull the knob off, see how it behaves.

Post by **scot850** » 05 Jul 2016, 11:12

Thanks erik. That is what I was saying.

So I charged the overnight on a trickle charger and it was showing full charge this morning. I removed the charger, put the key in and rowed the gearshift with the ignition on once, and it started right up. Strange thing was that yesterday, even the radio wouldn't come on, but today it was fine?! Only thing that I can think is that I had the charger connected yesterday when I tried to start it, so maybe the immobiliser didn't like it. Battery was showing 12.5+V so it is weird. Will have to wait now to see if it re-occurs!

Thanks for the input guys.

Now off to tackle the window guide on the drivers door....

Neil.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 06 Jul 2016, 00:35

I don't know if rowing the shifter had anything to do with your success or not. I misunderstood your post last night and I thought you were talking about the button in front of the shifter- the shift over-ride.

Post by **scot850** » 06 Jul 2016, 12:53

Good point. I misunderstood your reply! I'll double check that as well as I have had one that was sticky and didn't always 'un-depress' after use.

So far so good!

Neil.