05 Coupe owner; had car my detailed. came out now car is stuck in 1st gear will not go to automatic. won't go to 2nd or shifter will not move to Reverese only neautral. I have to turn car off to put it in park. Also noticed display on dash instead of 1 or a D the display is a dark square.
#7 fuse replaced problem persists. Disconnected battery? did not help. Want to try everything at home before i take it to dealer and they charge $100 just for diagnostics.
Or should i just pour some tequila in the tranny?

HELP!
Gitano

 

How old is your battery?

 

Almost a year. Not it. If I turn off the car and restart it, then i can go to reverse. but not after i go forward again. It also is bucking when I put it in gear from park. I am thinking fuse or relay. Cause that lite that displays D for drive or 1 for 1st is a dark square now.

 

I had the same problem few times and notice it happens when you switch from S to W (or vise versa) when engine is running. Turn off engine and on again, that should help.

 

So swith the w to s while the engine is off? Or just turn the engine off and on, should this not work do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Starting to save my pennies.

 

never even touch the switch when the engine is running... messes up the computer I guess. I found out the bad way. W stands for Winter mode, while S is for Summer or Sports mode. W bypasses the first gear hence giving you better traction on snow.

Hope this helps little with your problem. Have no other suggestions

 

Did you ever have this problem before you took it to have it detailed? And were you there when they did the detailing or did you drop it off to have it done? Was the engine compartment also detailed?

 

Did you write down the mileage before you left it for them?

Ferris Beuller?

 

I was there the entire time it was detailed. Never had a problem in the past. This came out of nowhere.

 

Did use the w and s switch while it was running during snow episode we had in Dallas. But nothing came from it but better traction. This happenned about 2 months after that.

 

If it happens again try this, at the bottom of the shift pattern below the "D" insert a screw driver and push down, it will release the shifter. Sometimes if the car is parked on an incline or if it is turned off while not in park or anything like the alarm going off (anything involving the security system) it will lock the shifter.

 

So it locks it in first? But when you turn it off only then can you shift in Park. I'll try that when I get home.
Thanks,
Gitano.

 

Having the exact issue with my '04. What was the end result of how to fix?

 

This post is from 10 years ago.

 

No ****. But this headache is worth a try that someone that knows anything might still be on here.

 

The dark square is a clue that the TCU is not powering up. Usually that indicates an RCM issue.