Selector stuck in Park

[Max]

I've just had my 95 4litre in for a re-core and a replacement/repair to the gearbox mounting. I took the car out for a test run this afternoon, and with each park and re-start it became more difficult to get out of "P". Now he's parked in the barn where he normally lives, and I can't get out of "P" at all. The obvious inference is that this is connected to the new mount somehow altering some geometry somewhere, but can this be? I also suspect that the brake pedal feels a bit spongy when I tread on it in order to select "D", and the ABS warning light did illuminate once or twice while I tried to get in gear. Any thoughts, chaps?

[ptjs1]

Max

You could try checking the integrity of the selector inhibitor switch and its wiring connection on the side of the gearbox. It could be that its become disturbed or the wiring damaged during the mounting work.

In emergency, you can get it out of Park by accessing the override switch. If you read through the workshop manual, you'll see how to access this from inside the car.

Good luck

Pal

[Max]

Some time later now, but this is how it panned out - I had a guddle about under the bonnet but couldn't see anything of note, so took the car for another run to collect my son from the train (the stuck-in-park problem habitually disappeared once the car was parked and cooled down). During the journey an alarming sqealing developed from the rear end (of the car ) which i decided was a bearing or brake pad coming loose and dragging, something like that. Gloom. But my son said "What's that, is the hand-brake on?" I scoffed, of course, but checked. Voila!! Squealing stopped and stuck-in-park has gone completely! I never actually use the hand-brake as its action is vague, to put it mildly, but I wonder if it was pulled on at the garage, it did actually work a little bit, and I didn't check since it was impossible to tell whether it functioned or not.

This might account for the warning light behaviour and the spongy pedal, too, both of which have resolved themselves in that XJS way of sometimes self-curing

Incidentally, the warped disc-type brake judder under medium strength braking has also almost completely self-healed now that I'm driving the car more than it was used to before I bought it, although I still think new discs and pads all round would be good.

[ptjs1]

Max,

glad to hear that the problems got resolved. In theory, there's no reason why the handbrake would have precluded you from moving the selector from Park. Perhaps it was just a case of the transmission inhibibitor switch being slightly loose at the outset and eventually sorting itself out.

A very mild warp on the disc could get slightly better as the brake pads wear out a bit of disc but not by much. Perhaps next time you've got the wheel off, you just check the runout on the disc.

Paul

[oldtimer]

If the car is parked for long periods it is possible for corrosion to occur between the pad and disc. This can be felt on the pedal as judder but diminishes with brake use. With a bit of luck the ferocious brake pads will quickly clean off the corroded portion of disc where the pad was.

I've noticed that if my car has had very limited use over the winter period it can take considerable time to really polish up the disc to a respectable state.

Oldtimer

[Max]

Thanks, chaps. To be honest, although the brakes are fine, and got through the MOT ok, they would benefit from a bit of an upgrade. I was thinking of new discs and green stuff pads, next winter perhaps. What do you think?

I wondered if some kind of wind-up, like with a 4x4 transfer box, might have affected the selector? Totally different mechanical set-up, obviously, Whatever it was, its ok at the moment, touch wood.