So, this is a story. Pretty embarrassing. But it is what it is. So, without further ado, here it is ... (and if any of you can tell me what happened ... and what I've potentially done, please do chime in) ...

I took my lovely lady (my 2006 Jaguar XJ8) out for a quick run for a midnight snack. I was working late and wanted a quick bite at a the McDonalds drive-through. After ordering, paying at the window, and finally stopping at the last window to pick up my food, I put the car in park. In fact, it's a habit to put my car in park most of the time at a drive through so I don't accidently hit the wrong pedal while fishing for my wallet or some such. So, I grabbed my food, reach for the gearshift and ... nothing ... the gear shift wouldn't leave park! It was stuck! It didn't matter what I did, it wasn't going anywhere! I tried shutting off the car and restarting. Nothing! I'm glad it was late at night. The lady at the window was nice and traffic was low, though there were still several cars. She just directed them to the next window. I tried locking and unlocking the car doors with the key fob out of the ignition just in case it was some security feature. I even got out of the car, opened the trunk, disconnected the battery, and reconnected it a bit later to see if that somehow reset something or other. Nothing. It didn't matter what I tried, the car was stuck in park. I managed to pull off the wood trim around the gearshift, but I couldn't find anything with my fat fingers that I could trigger and I didn't have any tools with me anyway. Eventually, I called AAA to get the car towed back to my house, which was only 2 miles from the McDonalds.

I get a call from the tow guy who asks me what the issue was. I tell him the car's stuck in park. He repeats it back to me. I repeat it back to him, "Yeah, stuck in park." He tells me he'll be there in 30 minutes. So, 40 minutes later, he gets there. He pulls up a video about how to get my car unstuck from park and into neutral. He watches it and still can't do it. That's when he tells me he can't help me. Why? Well, he has a flatbed and that means he couldn't get the car off the truck once on there since the car's stuck in park. You mean, stuck in park like I'd told him and like he'd repeated back to me on the phone? Yep, just like that. He tells me that I'd need someone with a wheel lift truck and not a flatbed like he has. Oh, thanks. You could have told me that on the phone originally when you'd asked me about the car back an hour ago now. So, I call back AAA like I was instructed to and they tell me that they can get a wheel lift to me ... at 7am! I'm like, "Ma'am, my car is blocking the drive-through window of a 24-hour McDonalds. I don't think that's going to work." She replies, "You could call the cops. That's the best we can do." Nice.

So, I'm not very happy and I don't want to leave my car at this McDonalds in front of their drive-through window until 7am. I decide to give it one more go. It doesn't work. The gearshift is just stuck in park. But I am a bit miffed, you could say, so I pull a bit harder than I should and, you know what? I hear a pop. And the gear shift comes loose. It sounded like I broke ... something. But not the gearshift. It suddenly shifts smoothly into all gears. I got it easily into drive and drove it into a parking space. Put it back into park. No grinding. No strange noises or scratching on the gearshift as it moved. I moved it to each slot ... reverse ... neutral ... drive ... back to park ... no issues. It shifted smoothly and the car responded as it should. So, I drove it home with no issues.

What ... a ... night!

So, I know I did something I shouldn't have. What was it? What did I bust? What should I be worried about? Or did I just get lucky? Also, why did this happen in the first place? What triggered this? What would cause a running car, put into park to not allow the gearshift to come out of park?

 

Maybe the mistake was to drive in or with a lovely lady to MC

Anyway, I had the stuck in park issue with my X358 too, but it always resolved after the third or fourth try. Still, I found it very annoying.
The parking lock is controlled by a switch on the brake pedal and an electromagnetic actuator in the shift assembly (J-gate). Both are possible causes of failure, among other things.
Since I didn't feel like troubleshooting and replacing parts, I removed the pawl in the J-gate block that is responsible for the mechanical lock. By the way, it can be released manually by srewdriver and the right move from above.
To eliminate the pawl I removed the center console and shift block, which is actually trivial if you have some diy experience.

My solution has the advantage that you where able to forget about the "stuck in park" once and for all.
Just be aware that the gear can be engaged even if the brake is not applied. For me, this is not a problem and my wife does not drive the car.

Cheers, Fritz





Postscript:

The pawl is a small piece of plastic, maybe it broke when you pulled harder. That's why I would remove the center console to check anyway.

 

[QUOTE=The pawl is a small piece of plastic, maybe it broke when you pulled harder. That's why I would remove the center console to check anyway.[/QUOTE]
It would seem to me the quick way to check if the pawl is broken would be to see if it can be pulled out of park, key off, engine off, foot off of brake pedal. I'd like to do that mod as well, I have been stuck 2 times in my short ownership. The reason I don't is the electric parking brake. I would disable that in a heartbeat on my X300, as it has a separate mechanical parking brake. One thing that helped on my x350, to my own amazement, was changing the batteries in the remotes. I don't understand it myself, but it stopped (for now at least) doing the cascade of faults that seem to plague this design, especially after a long period of not being driven. during the cascade, if you stop somewhere, it is going to hold you there with a stuck gear lever for a while.
Maybe they should issue all Micky-D's a good floor jack. That's how they clear drag strips of cars that lock up at the line; raise the rear wheels, & push it on the jack out of the way.

 

Hah! I just KNEW someone would say something like that. But it was a part of the story and had to be told.

Yes. Yes, it can.

What does this have to do with the other? Sorry for my ignorance? Mine still engages (according to the brake light on the dash).

 

"What does this have to do with the other? Sorry for my ignorance? Mine still engages (according to the brake light on the dash)."
The fact that is disengages with no output from the driver, other than putting it in gear makes me suspect that if a child or pet was to unsupervised in the car, they could pull it out of park, and have a roll-away. it could even happen during an extreme romantic parking session. but maybe not. I guess the quickest way to find out would be to park on a grade and pull one without the pawl out of park. If it rolls, I'm right to be concerned, if it stays put I'm wrong and please disregard.

 

Well, since I am 56 with no kids and no plans for any, I am not worried about the first. And that large, imposing center console in the front seat makes the second a bit tough (though not totally impossible), so I'm not that worried about the second. But ... good thinking.

 

I can assure you that the electric park brake works the same without the pawl as before.

Fritz

 

As long as the pin engages in the transmission.
You lock the door when your parking in parking lots.
Disabling it may not be a bad idea.
The 04 will shift out of park, without using the key, or the brake pedal.
Is this normal for the early 04's, anyone know?
If not, mine must have been modified

 

Definitely no normal behaviour, one of the previous owners probably had the same problem.
Fritz

 

Thanks Fritz, that's just what i was thinking

 

if you force it it will break the interlock and the problem is solved permanently 👍

my STR and XJR have no interlock

 

Don't like the idea of just yanking and breaking things myself
Keep things neat, get the unneeded parts out of the way.
After figuring out how to best disable, or remove them.