Stuck in Park in a big way. 2004 XC70

[FireFox31]

My 2004 XC70 with Geartronic is stuck in Park even though all the shifter mechanisms seem to be functional. The car has been sitting for a few months, which I'm sure didn't help.

With the car on and my foot on the brake, the shift knob button depresses but something mechanical holds the shifter in Park. After removing the shifter trim, I see the black lever at the front of the shifter releases when I step on the brake. Also, the cable with the yellow end at the left of the shifter moves freely (but what makes it move?). I removed the shift knob to confirm that pressing the button pulls the long square rod upwards.

With the knob out and car off, I was able to pull the stick back to Reverse but no further. With the car on, I could go into Reverse, but would jump back to Park. I desperately needed to move the car and was able to by holding the stick in Reverse.

Does anyone know what else I can try to restore shifting functionality? Do I reinstall the shift knob by simply forcing it down on to the shifter with the same brute force I used to remove it?

[veektor]

I had a problem on Acura MDX where it wouldn't go all the way into "Park", and the root cause was in the linkage from the shift lever to the transmission, mainly at the transmission. On Acura it was on the bottom, exposed to the elements, and apparently susceptible to rust. A spray of brake cleaner followed by some spray lithium grease was enough to restore the full range of motion.

I'm still a total newb to the Volvos, so I can't tell you if this is a likely scenario, but that's where I would looks next. In the Volvo the connection of transmission cable to the intermediate lever (I hope I'm looking up the parts correctly on diagram) is under the hood on driver's side, which makes it much less likely to get gunked up as the one on Acura, but who knows. Shift lever, shift cable, and intermediate lever are about as much as you can check on the transmission without taking it apart.

[chrism]

Also, the cable with the yellow end at the left of the shifter moves freely (but what makes it move?).

That may be the cable that connects the ignition switch to the shifter. When you turn the key ON/OFF, does that cable move?

I had my ignition switch apart over the weekend to fix a tumbler hanging-up problem. When I reinstalled the switch the shifter wouldn't come out of Park. Disconnecting and reconnecting that cable at the ignition switch end got it all working again.

[FireFox31]

The car shifts fine now that I removed and replaced the shift knob. I bet the rod at the end of it was just stuck in place from sitting (for only four or so months). Thanks for the suggestions.

[FireFox31]

I found the reason the car won't shift from park. The cable on the left side of the shift mechanism with the yellow end was kind of stuck, not moving far enough when the key was turned to position 1.

When I used a pen to push that yellow cylinder, the car could shift. But after driving when I put it in park, I couldn't turn the key to position 0. Again, I had to move the yellow bit with a pen to convince the car it was in park.

The solution is to remove the panel on the driver's side of the shifter, then clean that cable end. I can't easily tell how to remove that panel, so I have to sell this junk car with this problem.

In this picture, the yellow cylinder is where the cable connects.
http://www.usedecus.com/images/products ... 622464.jpg

[abscate]

Im sure this isn't hard to fix. Can you take some pix so someone can guide you on removing that panel?