I have a 2003 G35 4dr Automatic. While stopped and idleing, I bumped the shift knob into the manual shift position, but it didn't engage any gears, and the shift lever will not return to the drive position, and therefore not back into park. The key will not come out, because it needs to be in park to remove the ignition key. Is this a switch or interlock failure, and what can I do? With the shift lever in its current position in the manual shift mode, the transmission is in nuetral, as I can start and stop the engine with the ignition switch and the car will roll, so it seems that the transmission is in neutral. Nothing is lit up on the shift indicator light (it doesn't say D or 1, 2, 3 etc.). Trying the pedal brake and the parking brakes in all combinations will not allow the shift lever to move.I've had the car for two days, and now this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ok, this is a fairly obvious fix, but I'm not sure if it applies to G35 as well, however, in my 350GT, right above the shifter there is a small button that says 'shift lock'. When pressed you cannot shift over.

Worth a try if your car has it, but again, fairly obvious so not sure.

+1 ^ also after if it comes back just do it again and disconect the negative terminal on the battery. That should do it.

zozo

The same scenario happened to me yesterday. I tried depressing the shift lock with no success. I contacted the Service Dept. and they suggested the shift lock also. I can't think of any thing else to try so, I will probably have it towed to the Dealership.

rcolem1 wrote:The same scenario happened to me yesterday. I tried depressing the shift lock with no success. I contacted the Service Dept. and they suggested the shift lock also. I can't think of any thing else to try so, I will probably have it towed to the Dealership.

Perhaps it is time for a 6 speed manual?

OK, I fixed my problem with the shifter stuck between Drive and the Auto-manual position. BTW, The shift lock didn't do anything, it just allows you to get out of park in case of a power loss (battery). I pulled the whole center panel apart and started poking around the shifter and all the interlocks associated with the shifter. I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow the shifter got into the manual gate, but all the other interlocks thought it was still in the automatic mode. I manually pushed one of the interlock mechanisms out of the way of the shift lever and moved the lever back to the automatic shifting side. Once I did this, everything started working fine. The brake pedal interlock relay started working again, and all was well. I think loose tolerance around the shift gate allowed the shifter to go into the manual mode when it wasn't supposed to. The explanation of what I did is not clear, I know, but I hope it helps. I've driven around after the fix, and used manual shifting, it works fine. I don't think I'm giving my girlfriend the keys again, I don't know how she screwed it up in the first place.

nice

zozo

This happen to me also, I just removed the shifter trim and found the notch that allow the shifter to slide back over. The trim blocked the notch on the gate. I found that if you shift into manual mode with the shifter to high on the gate it will get stuck in neutral. To prevent this whenever I go into manual mode I just make sure the lever is all the way back while switching over.

trigonal wrote:OK, I fixed my problem with the shifter stuck between Drive and the Auto-manual position. BTW, The shift lock didn't do anything, it just allows you to get out of park in case of a power loss (battery). I pulled the whole center panel apart and started poking around the shifter and all the interlocks associated with the shifter. I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow the shifter got into the manual gate, but all the other interlocks thought it was still in the automatic mode. I manually pushed one of the interlock mechanisms out of the way of the shift lever and moved the lever back to the automatic shifting side. Once I did this, everything started working fine. The brake pedal interlock relay started working again, and all was well. I think loose tolerance around the shift gate allowed the shifter to go into the manual mode when it wasn't supposed to. The explanation of what I did is not clear, I know, but I hope it helps. I've driven around after the fix, and used manual shifting, it works fine. I don't think I'm giving my girlfriend the keys again, I don't know how she screwed it up in the first place.

Girlfiends can't do as much damage as a wife!

I had the same problem.. somehow my gf managed to get the shifter stuck between the tiptronic gate and neutral to where the car would start (thinking it was in neutral) but couldnt be shifted out of neutral and therefor the keys could not be pulled out. After tinkering with all the mechanisms around the shifter itself i had my father get underneath the car and apply pressure and wiggle the shift linkage it then popped back out.

Hey Natedoggsk934,

Welcome to NICO!

Nice to see another Arizona member!

Jeff

I have figured this out! I'll do my best to explain. It seems the shifter is stuck between Automatic and Manual. I recently helped someone on the side the road who was stuck and we were able to get the car going.

I believe you can either do this from the inside the car by disassembling the shifting panel or from underneath the car. If you don't have any tools, then underneath car would be best. The shifter or the device between the seats that you use to switch gears is attached to a metal arm directly underneath body of car. This metal arm goes into the transmission. If you can wiggle this metal arm you should be able to get your car unlocked from this stuck position. You can wiggle it from underneath the car or you can take off the entire paneling that your shifter is attached to.

If you take apart the paneling, you must first take off the handle of your shifter. You do this by pulling the plastic underneath the handle down then remove a brass looking pin from the plastic. Then you handle cover should slip right off. Then start pulling apart all the panels and compartments between your seats. You have disconnect about 5 electrical wires with those harness clips, then you unscrew the covers around your shifter. You even have move the seats all the up in order to get to some of the screws on the plastic covering. Once you get all that figured out, your shifter has 4 bolts in each corner that holds it the frame of your car. You must take these 4 10mm bolts off and then you should have access to the metal arm that goes into the transmission. Once you start wiggle this arm your shifter should unlock and now you have put everything back together. Have fun.

We were able to do this successfully while parked on an off ramp from an interstate. This forum helped us get started as I googled it from my telephone. However the directions were not accurate so I made this post.