shifting issues - 95 buick century

[Gadgetman]

So my daughter tells me today that her car gets "stuck" in neutral and wont shift into drive or got stuck in 3rd gear and couldnt get it into park. Is this a shifter problem or worse yet a transmission problem that could spell the end of this vehicle. any ideas?

[Shack]

Sounds like possible Torque Converter Clutch (TCC) Solenoid, which is not too bad. Remove trans mount on left side of trans, support trans and pull side cover ( I know some more things are needed). That is speaking for the stuck in 3rd gear issue when coming to a stop and engine dies (if that is what is happening?).

The putting it into drive and the trans not going into gear could be a secondary issue or a whole internal combined issue.

Does this happen always or when warmed up and what Engine do you have? 2.2 or 3.1?

[Scott K]

Are you saying the shifter is stuck and you cant get it to shift with the shifter, or are you saying the tranny doesnt shift, engauge?

[Gadgetman]

I havent actually been able to experience the problem when I have tried it , but she says that when she is parked and wants to shift into gear to go she cant get it to engage.

[Macgyver55]

We need a bit more info to help here. Is this a column shift or console shifter. Ask her if she means the lever wont move, or if the lever moves but it wont change gears. Maybe then we can get a better "handle" on the problem.

[Gadgetman]

Sorry about the skimpy info, shes 16 so its a little hard to get a lot of good info from her... It is a column shift and it will move out of park but evidently sometimes she cant get it all the way to the"D" on the column selector. Once it only went to the "3" on the selector and another time she had to fight it to get it past "R"

[Macgyver55]

Is it the worst when it is cold? I've run into some bad shift cables recently that have moisture in them that freezes up when cold but get better after the car (or weather) warms up.

Other than that I'm not much of an (auto) transmission guy but I don't recall any internals that would make it hard to shift.

[Jeremy airjer W]

To verify the bad cable. Remove the cable linkage from the transmission and then try to moe the lever to the various positions (vehicle shut off). If it moves through the positions like it should than the problem is inside the trans. If it is still stiff than I would go with the bad cable theory.

[Shack]

Yep, I read into wrong.

MC55 and airjer said it best, if this is the true issue of shifter not moving.