Reverse to park sucks

The shift out of park and into park was hard and made a clunk sound after I got it in.

I also meant this:
I have a reason for not wanting to use jack stands till I read that post but people just dont get it.
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sounds like you were on a slight incline (maybe not enough to notice) park there again and put the car in neutral if it rolls than its normal. its the parking paw getting wedged against the sprocket
 
No incline at all and it didn't happen before while I was parked in that spot. I park in that spot all the time and it should have done it before.
 
Ok, what do you think it could be? I am going to check before I go to the dealership any way so they dont BS me and tell me its fixed cause fluids needed to be toped off.
 
dunno, have you spilled any pop in your center counsel, it tends to get down around the shifter (most cars not just ls's) but that would make stiff in all gears... i think the park paw wasnt lined up or something, id make sure it does it regularly before worrying too much about it
 
My car does this all the time. The park stop lever (also called a Parking Pawl) in the transmission gets jammed if the car rolls even the slightest bit when its in park. This can also happen if there is stress on the drivetrain when its put into park and then the Parking brake is applied before the drivetrain has been allowed to "settle" when the car is parked.

Ive just gotten into the habit of popping into neutral before I put on the Parking brake, then slide it up into park once the car is settled. Never has done it since except for a few times when the brake wasn't tight enough.

It also jerks a little when going straight from drive to reverse. Again here I just go into neutral for a second first to take the stress off the drivetrain then go into reverse and its fine. For the most part this is normal, don't worry about it too much. Things get loosened up as the car ages, doesn't mean theres anything wrong with it.
 
JWerner2 said:
Ok, what do you think it could be? I am going to check before I go to the dealership any way so they dont BS me and tell me its fixed cause fluids needed to be toped off.
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Do you change your own oil or have it changed for you? If you take it to a shop to have your oil changed then have them check the trans fluid while it's up on the rack for your own piece of mind.

If it's a shop you use regularly then they shouldn't charge you and if they do I'm sure it will not be much.

Then, you don't have to buy / rent ramps or use your jack / stands and crawl under the car thus saving you the effort and discussion.

Let us know what you find out.
 
I have not spilled anything, you can tell this is down in the trans.

I gave the car different scenarios being parked on inclines, not parked on inclines,....etc,... etc and it did it all but once.


Its has done it before here and there but just did not feel this hard to shift and no t this many times. I know about parking on inclines and the roll factor. I have the day off and I'm taking the kids to the pool so Ill see how things go. I think since its just a few blocks away I'm going to use the LS today again.


Tricky Dick, I do have a oil change coming up so I might try that after I'm done at the pool.

Thanks everyone so far Ill let you guys know how it goes.
 
This sounds like a mechanical problem, not a hydraulic problem. It could be with the linkage between the shifter and the tranny, or it could be with the brake pedal interlock (though that would only affect getting it out of Park, not back into Park). I'd also discount the parking pawl sticking being the problem, as it should only be a problem shifting out of Park, not back into Park; even if the pawl were boogered up, that shouldn't affect shifting back into Park.

If you get under the car, you should be able to see the linkage on (IIRC) the driver's side of the transmission. I've never looked, so I don't know if it's a rod-type linkage or a cable-type linkage. If it's a rod, it could be bent, or the lever on the tranny case could be bent, or there could be some other kind of interference. If it's a cable, it's possible that the cable got kinked, or the sheath slipped in the clamp, or the clamp slipped and rotated, all of which would be relatively easy fixes.

If it's not readily apparent in the linkage, the problem is probably something damaged inside the transmission, but that doesn't seem terribly likely.
 
You can definitely tell its mechanical in some way. I was thinking maybe it wasn't getting enough lube but I have decided thats not likely giving the feel it has to it when its forced over, its more of a Jammed feel. I also did some searching and I decided that since I don't have a leak the fluids should be OK. I got a 60k service done on the Trans cause it was in the dealership recommendations for my vehicle so even if the Trans would burn up fluid I would still doubt thats likely without leakage being apparent.


Thanks sooner!

Ill look into those scenarios
 
I just thought of one other thing--the problem may be in the shifter itself. The button on the shifter pushes a rod down to disengage a bar from a detent in the shifter assembly; if it doesn't push the lever far enough, you'd sure enough have problems shifting into and out of Park, but not with any other shifting.

In the picture below you should see what I'm describing. The arched black piece at the top of the picture is the underside of the top of the shifter assembly, and you can see the white bar not quite disengaged from the detent. The slot is the Park position, and the next step down (to the left) is the Reverse position. You can see that the "hump" between Park and Reverse is the highest in the assembly.
ls-shifter-park.jpg

I haven't disassembled the shifter rod, so I don't know how the internal linkage works, but if you've recently removed the shifter knob, it might not be seated down far enough to fully move that bar...

Edit: for some reason, the image is upside down. The white bar should be below the black arch...
Edit 2: Wait, not, it's not. I inverted the image on Photobucket (the original was taken upside down for lighting reasons), so I must have had the original image cached. Never mind...
Edit 3: Added text tags to the image to make it more clear-er. ;)
 
It's from the passenger side. The driver's side has the same detents, but it's a bit more cluttered (the brake pedal interlock mechanism--the fuzzy pink piece visible in the background--is on the driver's side).
 
Here's a shot from the driver's side with a bit more context. Note that the shifter is in Reverse in this picture.
ls-shifter-ds.jpg
 
OK, when the car is in accessory it does not do anything out of the ordinary it is smooth as can be. When the car is running after the second time shifting it back and forth it was hard.

I also found that I can shift from park to neutral very quick without troubles and then into reverse.

I will add the that sound I hear is coming from under the car around the trans case.
 
Thanks for the pics I was going to ask if I should mirror that one.
 
Also, note that those are pictures of a 2nd Gen SST shifter. I don't know if things are different on the 1st Gen shifters.
 
Thank you so much. You are a great guy. I could have swore the pool was open today ( the towns public pool ) but I guess the people I saw swimming yesterday just happened to be the VIPs of Lopatcong. The Mayors wife and kids and kids friends get to swim in the public pool a week before it is opened but no one else can. Shows you how things work these days. Lots of people were showing up while I was walking away just after 12:00 and were raising all sorts of hell but they thought it was a joke. Luckily its only a few blocks or I would have been pissed.


Oh well, my kids just get to play in the tub all day for free and enjoy free ice cream and free Popsicles.


Anyway now I have some time to get hold of a friend as a spotter and help me look under the car and dissect that diagram a bit better along with that linkage and other stuff you have mentioned.
 
i would try disconnecting the cable from the trans and then check the shifter operation, then with the car SAFELY in the air go underneath and put the trans through the gears (see this where ramps bad :)) and see what system is binding. just remember the K.I.S.S. rule, Keep It Simple Stupid and you should be able to eliminate most possibilities
 
jwerner, have you checked the actual shifter? i remember on my mother in laws magnum she had the same problem and it was do to a small object being jammed in there. it was really difficult to move the shifter. worth a try tho. the fact that you hear a "clunk" makes me think it isn't that but hey it's worth a try
 
i see that sooner already suggested something along those lines so please disregard my post about debris being stuck in there if you have already disassembled it.
 
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