When weather gets cold, below 20 degrees, for example, the car will not come out of park. When car runs for 20-30 minutes with heater blasting, will then come out of park. Took to mechanic. He cleaned dirt/sticky liquid (soft drink?) out of the actual shift panel in the car. Did not fix the problem. Why is the car “freezing” in park? It is a 2004.
The problem could be with the interlock switch at the brake pedal, or the interlock solenoid at the shift lever being effected by the cold.
Tester
Yup, Tester is right. When this is happening, do your brake lights work? If not check the brake light switch.
Sounds to me like there is still some soda pop still gumming up the works somewhere in there. Perhaps leaving it overnight some cold night it coud be pre disassembled to find the problem in the morning.