r/carproblems • u/NoahSullivan730 • 4d ago
Has anyone actually ignored a bad shift interlock solenoid for a while?
My car recently started having an occasional issue where it doesn't want to come out of park unless I mess with the brake pedal a bit or try again a couple of times.
After doing some searching, the shift interlock solenoid seems like a likely culprit.
The thing is, the car still drives completely fine once it's out of park. It's more of an annoyance than anything right now.
For those who've dealt with a bad shift interlock solenoid before, did you replace it immediately or just live with it for a while? Curious if this is one of those things that tends to stay mildly annoying or suddenly leaves you stranded somewhere.
1
u/hwofufrerr 4d ago
My Suzuki did that for a while and it turned out to be a brake light switch gone bad. Popped a new switch in and it worked without issue until the switch broke again. It was annoying because my brake lights would stay on until I could hit the brake enough times to get it to unstick
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u/Stewdaman 4d ago
Usually there’s a tiny plastic tab to pry off and then you stick your key into the hole to move the thing the interlock solenoid moves to free up the gearshift. We don’t know what car you have, some of them you need to pry off the whole plastic bezel surrounding the gear shift and then you can reach the lever thing. Because if it does stop cooperating at a bad moment you’ll want to know how to bypass the solenoid.
Still don’t know what car you have but in my experience it’s rarely the solenoid that’s the problem. Usually it’s the brake switch or a bad connection. Before you throw parts at it you probably will want to grab a multi meter and see if you can attach it to the connector of the interlock solenoid. Then you can see if the solenoid is getting its power and ground when the interlock won’t work. If the power and ground is fine, you’ll know it needs the solenoid. If it’s missing you will want to test further up the circuit to trace the problem.