I live in Ohio and the winter seems brutal on my car. About 4 times my car would not come out of park when it was cold until it warmed up for about 15 minutes. Any ideas? Thanks

 

Last winter I decided to hit the Touchless car wash on my way to work after several days of snow and salt. It was about 20 degrees outside. After the wash, with the car running in park, I couldn't get it back in gear. After a few minutes I could move the shifter again.

I am guessing that the shift linkage froze up from the water. It has only happened once in 6 years, but I don't go to the car wash anymore if it very cold.

 

I'm pretty sure we don't have shift linkage per se as the trans is electronically controlled. But obviously something is freezing up and maybe the electronics that do the gear changes need to be warmed up. I know if I start driving only a few seconds after starting the car on a cold day the trans shifts like crap.

 

There is a shift linkage on the car.
There's a shift interlock for the automatics that prevent the car from being taken out of Park without a foot on the brake pedal. That wouldn't be possible without there being a shifter linkage.

BlkXfire04,
Did you try the shifter interlock over-ride process to get the car out of park when this happened to you?

BC.

 

Of course it would be possible or have you not seen the new Jaguars with the little dial that pops of out of the console. The only thing that's connected to is a circuit. And, as we all know, our cars are drive by wire. No cables there either.

 

Just discovered the interlock override, this is not well explained, found the slot at the back of the shifter and ,not knowing of some special tool, inserted a pen and wala , have struggled with this several time. hope this helps someone in a bind. Also cold here in Carson City.