Sticky Stick

I have a 92 Honda Accord automatic with 260K miles. The shifter is very difficult to get into or out of park. The car also lurches forward after it’s been turned off if I’m parked on a hill. The transmission itself does not seem to be acting up, though. I don’t want to spend tons of money to get her fixed up. Any ideas?

Do you use the parking brake? It sounds like you do not. If not, your relying on the parking prawl in the transmission to keep the car from rolling on inclines when parked. Then, a protion of the weight of the car is jamming the prawl tight inside the transmission. This forces you to pull tight on the shifter to pull the prawl out of it’s locking groove.

Using the parking brake eliminates this problem. The brake will hold the weight of the car from moving, so the parking prawl is not loaded down. When you park the car, apply the parking brake tight before releasing the brake pedal.

If you are not using the parking brake to hold the car, you are relying on the park pawl inside the transmission. It is not very strong and has been known to break when the driver tries to shift out of Park on a hill. Repair requires removal and disassembly of the transmission.

Before you take your foot off the brake, set the parking brake firmly so that it, not the park pawl, takes the weight of the car.

Thanks, Knuckles. Since the damage already seems to be done, is there an inexpensive fix? I’d really like to give this car to my kid or sell it cheap, but I don’t want to put a lot of money in it.