Hard to shift out of park

I always park vehicles by doing the following:

  1. hold down the brake pedal
  2. shift to Neutral
  3. set the parking brake
  4. release the brake pedal to let vehicle roll a bit
  5. shift to Park.
  6. turn off engine

I thought this would prevent the automatic transmission's parking pawl from becoming wedged, but after driving my father's 2002 Nissan Frontier 2WD w/automatic recently, I think I may be wrong,

I had no problems the first time I started his truck, but on the second start and afterwards, the shifter would stay stuck in Park unless I moved the truck back and forth slightly. This happened every time until I decided to adopt my father's method of parking:

  1. hold down brake pedal
  2. shift to Park
  3. turn off engine
  4. release brake pedal (truck usually roll some)

I never had any more problems with the shifter being stuck, but why? Also this never happened with my 1998 Frontier 2WD automatic.

I don't think the neutral safety switch or any brake-transmission interlock is to blame, but I'm no expert. The parking brake on the

2002 Frontier held fine, both forward and backward.
Reply to
larry moe 'n curly
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Maybe most of us do it a bit differently.

When I brake to a stop, I put the tranny in Park. Then, I release the brake and turn off the engine.

I should (and sometimes do) set the handbrake after this.

Reply to
HLS
1964 in Vietnam.1963 Ford Army Olive Drab pickup truck, the manual shift column shift gear shift lever wouldn't move at all.I dribbled some oil around the gear shift lever under the steering wheel and the gear shift linkage under the hood.That pickup truck ran like a Sportscar.I wish I could find me a good Ford pickup truck like that to buy and fix it up.Even more so, a 1941 to 1947 Ford pickup truck. cuhulin
Reply to
cuhulin

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