I have a Beautiful red


2005 Crossfire roadster with 37,000 miles running perfect and all working. After driving a few miles to add a few pounds to tires, I returned home and backed into a slightly inclined drive with front in lower position, turned off ignition. and put in park. I discovered that the shifter was now stuck in park, I used a screwdriver to get out of park. I put it back in park to start and when trying to restart, the ignition key turns on, but will not turn to the start position to start car. I tried while in park and foot on brake with emergency brake on. All of this happened to a perfectly running car after backing into a slightly inclined drive. I really need some HELP.. I am too old to do any major repairs. Any Ideas will be greatly appreciated. I was going to sell the car today when this all happened.

 

Are you saying the key really will not go to the start position? Or just that the car won't engage the starter at all?
And did you REALLY turn the key off and THEN put the car in park? If so, I can see why you are having problems.

Cant' really help you until you make clear what is going on.

THIS is odd:
and put in park. I discovered that the shifter was now stuck in park, I used a screwdriver to get out of park. I put it back in park to start
Just what did you do? How did you know the shift was stuck in park and why try to move the shift with the key off? It only moves from park with the key ON and your foot on the brake pedal. THat is how it is designed.

 

Thank you very much for replying, I am really stressed. Let me try this again as I try to remember what I did!
After driving a few miles to filling station to top off air in tires, I returned home and backed into a slightly inclined drive with front in lower position facing street, I stepped on brake, put in park and turned off the ignition, and probably pulled up emergency brake, and took key out. When I got back in and went to start drive car again, I believe I started the car and went to put in drive, noticed the shifter was locked in park. I panicked but had read that this could happen. I think I got tool out to release the shifter which worked but noticed that when put back in park to start the ignition the key would now only turn on, but not rotate to the start position.to engage the starter.
I used another car with a rope from behind to pull slightly backwards to take strain off of transmission to release shifter handle but with no success. I had read that rocking might release parking handle.
Any ideas, or recommendations are really appreciated. I am 80 and am grateful for all the help that I can get. Thank you! and bless you.

 

Hi Ed,
Can you move the key back to off and remove it from the ignition? I have a 2005 blue automatic roadster (as well as a red manual roadster), and currently I'm having a no crank condition on the blue. When I insert the key, and turn it to start, it only lets me do that once. I then have to take the key out by rotating back to off (sometimes I have to giggle the steering wheel), re-insert it before I can try the start position again. Also, on the instrument cluster, is the gear position indicator showing the right gear (P for park), or a black rectangle? When you turn the key to the ON position, are all of the dash lights coming on, and then are most of them going off (normal condition)? Are there any messages being displayed on the dash message indicator, like "start error"? Do you hear the fuel pump start up when you turn the key to on? Is your brake pedal really hard to push down - sometimes if you don't push the brake pedal down far enough, the brake light switch won't engage. (I usually pump 3 times when the pedal is hard.) A lot of these "test" are just to narrow down the possibilities.
Good luck, sincerely
-Jerry

 

Hi Jerry, I finally was successful at replacing my stop light switch with lots of hope, but after testing to start, I still had no stop lights and key not turning enough to reach start position. I'm not sure where to go next. Could be bad new switch, I guess. I think if I can get this fixed my troubles are over.

I am really looking to pay a Crossfire expert to tackle this problem for me as I am running out of ideas. I live very near Hot Springs Arkansas and really need help as I am not too handy with these types of issues. Thanks.

 

PROBLEMS SOLVED. Thanks to all that responded to my calls for help. I read a lot on the forum, searched on-line through Google as I tried to diagnose all of my perceived issues, overthinking everything etc. and by process of elimination with the feeling leading more and more to the Stoplight switch as the first clue, I finally installed a new stop light switch by just reaching under the dash and removing and replacing the switch. I successfully got stop lights and when I tried to start it, It tried to start once and died, which was promising, but after I searched further, I saw that I had at some point removed the ring around the key area early on by over thinking that it was a key issue. After reinstalling this ring, I tried again, and it started right up and runs perfectly. All of my "'locked in Park", dash warning lights etc. issues all went away.

This was a very stressful ordeal for me but taught me to focus on the sure warning signs, which was the tail lights not working, and not to overthink the issue. "Fix what is wrong first, and what I had caused by messing with the key area, and go from there.
I have downloaded all of the available manuals, (wow, nice) and again thanks to all of the helpers and participants in this form that help us get "On the Road again".

Ed

 

Hi Edward,
That's great news. Thanks for updating us with the resolution to your problem. Good to know it just turned out to be the brake switch.
-Jerry