Here is something that has plagued me over the past couple of years. I had a 2007 Ford Taurus that got itself towed to my shop. The complaint was that the engine started fine but the transmission would not budge from Park. No check engine lights and no problems were evident before this suddenly happened. Very frustrating.

 

Turns out it the brake lights were dead. Specifically, it was a brake light fuse that was unpowering the brake pedal switch. Ever try to shift from Park without stepping on the brake first. Won't go, right?

 

It seems that there is a switch on your brake pedal that, if there is no power to it, the system locks your transmission in park but only after you finish driving and place the transmission in Park. Safety, safety, safety.

 

It can be a real nightmare to figure out if you are not familiar with these systems. It would make sense that if the gear shifter will not move from Park that the problem is in the transmission and not in the brake system. Right?

 

Another complication to this is that the dealership did not know about this either. At least they did not tell my customer. She had her vehicle towed there and they charged her $100 or so for a diagnostic and told her that she had a bad transmission. Since the vehicle had 55,000 miles on it at the time there was no more factory warranty so she would have to pay for it.

 

Thankfully she had a second opinion before replacing the transmission.

 

After all, when the dealership finished replacing her transmission and the car did the same thing they would have been forced to look further. After replacing a $.50 cent fuse they could have continued to charge her for the new transmission and save face.

 

The point is that vehicle diagnostics are not as simple as they once were. Everything is interconnected now and snap, knee jerk diagnostics are not very accurate anymore.

 

When searching for a shop to do your maintenance and repair, find a shop that spends the time and the money to get the training necessary on your vehicle. How do you this? You ask questions. Try the following;

 

  1. Can I see your ASE certificates? (ASE is Automotive Service Excellence. While this is not always an indication of knowledge it is an indication that some-one at least is trying to stay certified. That takes effort and effort is what you want)
  2. You can tell a great deal based on the cleanliness of the shop and the front office/waiting area. If the shop you are inspecting can not even take the time to clean the front area, imagine the level of care they will take with your car.
  3. What guarantees do you offer? Most shops should have at least 1 year or 12k miles. This is what the average parts house offers. Anything more than that and the shop itself is putting up their own guarantee. That means that the shop really believes in their work.