STR has about 60k, never had a stuck trans problem in the 1.5 years I have owned it. About 3 weeks ago, flat surface, stuck in park. Tried to restart 5 times, pushed it a bit, finally worked.

No loose bolts on the trans cable underneath.

Yesterday, slight incline, stuck in park. Restart about 10 times, couple of construction workers rocking car, nothing worked. Popped off the shifter surround and pushed down the left side of the black wingnut w/ a screwdriver on the left (driver) side of the unit and got it going.



It hasn't shifted properly on it's own since then. Parked in flat lots and my flat driveway and everytime I have to use the wingnut trick. Applying parking brake before engaging the lever into Park had no effect.

I have brake lights, but do not hear the clicking when brakes are applied. Therefore, I assume the brake switch at the pedal is working properly, but is there a solenoid under the shifter that is not working properly, perhaps?

 

Well, after not driving it for four days, today it went into gear like normal. Except I still didn't hear a click as I applied the brake. Something else I noticed last week, while on the highway, the gear indicator (P, R, N, D) kept flickering on and off. Nothing systematic, more like a loose connection. They were all lit up like normal with the headlights on, but the D, which should be illuminated brightly, would flicker.
Any thoughts?

 

I am guessing here a little bit.

On my X300, that same thing happened, and I had a stop lamp bulb out, NO bulb failure, no idea why, simply replaced the bulb, good as.

There has also been discussions about the stop light switch and the relay in the ski slope area doing odd things. Again X300/308, so not sure for the "S".

If you can "pop" it out of "P" by pushing the pin inside the cabin, then the transmission is just fine, it is something in the gearlever area.

The indication lights, i agree to the loose connection, or bad earth, and maybe the same issue is causing your gearlever lockout.

 

I don't see how it could be such as a stop lamp bulb (look at elec diags to see) but yes could be a bad connection and definitely worth fixing before you get worse grief.

 

So is there a gear selector solenoid that could be going bad in the J gate - something is not obviously getting the signal that the breaks are applied and the shifter can be released?

 

There is a solenoid in the J gate unit, that locks the lever in "P", and applying the brakes activates the lights and the circuit to release the gear lever.

This solenoid sticks, and the control relay sticks sometimes, hence the "manual over-ride facilty.

Bad contacts, usually earths, cause this "sticking".

It is purely a gear lever LOCK, nothing to do with the transmission itself. The workings of the S Type I dont know, I am relating my findings with my X300, XJ40, etc. Our S Type is fine, so I have not delved into the depths just yet, but I believe the basics are the same??.

 

I've found reference to a Brake Shift Interlock Actuator in the XK forums. But the diagram looks a bit different than what I'm seeing from above. Does anyone have a write up on how to replace this or the solenoid that send the signal?

 

What does JTIS say?

 

I don't know - I had trouble viewing it with a mac some time ago and haven't tried again.

 

You could try using a virtual machine like https://www.virtualbox.org/ on your mac.

 

The savings over going to a dealer would pay several times over for a used Windows PC.

 

I've the same problem with a 2002 S Type. It won't shift out of PARK when the brake pedal is pressed. I swapped out the entire J Gate assembly, but to no avail. So not the solenoid (I checked the one I removed by passing a 12v current between pins 9 and 13 on the green connector CA41). On investigation I found that no current reaches the solenoid. The Gear Interlock relay (in the rear power box, in the trunk) is clicking away happily when the brake is pressed, but it doesn't appear to be telling the solenoid about it! There is a connector CA14-12 indicated on the electric layout documentation, but can anyone tell me where this connector is located? It ISN'T the big green connector immediately behind the J Gate, but further back in the car. Any ideas?

 

You're not helping by posting this twice.

 

My count makes it three separate threads you've posted about this same issue.

When you get a minute, please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST section and post some info about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

 

If the bulbs and solenoid are indeed wired in parallel, the logic behind your fix isn't so far-fetched. Sometimes a bulb will partially short out internally when they fail, creating an unintended conductive path. Or if the bulb socket gets wet and corroded, crud builds up and once again "siphons" off some current. There may be just enough current reaching the filament for it to illuminate, but not enough for the heavier amp draw of the solenoid. I've seen plenty of weird things like this (I'm an aircraft electronics tech) that don't seem to make any sense at first glance.

 

The brakes seem to be stuck because I can't move the gear shift from park and even though it is clicking when I turn the ignition it won't start. Any suggestions?

 

Yes, first start your own thread and list al the details as your box is different to the OP's then post an intro in the new members section.