brianmch

I had to adjust the depth of the switch some to get the brake lights to work correctly. Still no fix.

Read that the 10amp fuse in the footwell may be the issue. It was blown. Replacement turned off ABS, TRAC, and VSC lights. NOW it shifts into gear correctly!

brianmch

So now the 1 year old battery won't hold a charge and it is stuck in gear...again. Dash lights were on but now off.

Any ideas?

kd1

My 1999 Lexus RX300 is stuck in park also. I've checked the brake light works, the shifter reset has also been reset by me, but the car shifter is still stuck in the park position. If any one can help with what to do now to get it out of park I would appreciate it.

salimshah

Consult your owners manual. You can pop out the chicklet sized plastic piece on the shifter console and see if you can push down on the lockout piece and move the shifter out of the park.

If you are unable to shift with the above override, there may be more problems like broken linkage, transmission etc.

Salim

kd1

Tried pressing the white reset button on the shifter panel. Didn't work. The car is still stuck in the park position with no known remedy. When you say broken linkage, what adjustments can be done to the linkage? And how do I get it towed to the mechanic if I can't shift it into neutral? And what could be the estimated costs to repair? Any information out there would help. Thanks in advance.

salimshah

There is a cable link at the bottom of the shift lever to the transmission.

It is hard to diagnose a problem over the net, but the issue can be as simple as thumb release part is not working. How does that feel? and what is the amount of travel?
Tow truck is equipped to handle any situation and they can use dollies and even skid the tires.

Mechanic can even disconnect the linkage and then actually force the transmission into various gears {assuming nothing inside the transmission is broken].

Salim

kd1

The thumb release part goes down by 1/4" to 1/2" when pressed. Then it comes back up to the original position when the finger pressure is released. Do you know how much anything like this possibly costs. Thanks.

salimshah

Is that travel and feel normal for your vehicle? Or it feels odd.

When it comes to vehicles, there is labor cost to diagnose, part of materials + disposal to fix and labor rate to make the fix. It is very hard to determine what is wrong and what would it take to fix. Once our family car broke down and the cost of material (part) was less than $0.25 and since we woke the mechanic up and he worked from 2am to 6am he charged us large fee for diagnosis.

Salim

bevybaby22

MY Lexus RX 300 2002, with 100222 miles, has been the Perfect car. Today all of a sudden the shift lever stuck in park. Lucky I was in my driveway and just going to put the car in the garage when this occurred! so after reading others on this site with same problem I guess ILL have it TOWED to the repair shop and hoping that all is needed a BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH. wow . so . Thankful I was not far away from home when this happened! NO warning of any problem before this happen

salimshah

Save the tow truck. You dont want them to drag your RX with the Shift in Park.
Remove the square plug by the shift lever with a flat head screwdriver. Press down the strip inside and you should be able to move out of the Park position. This is the override for Brake switch. More instructions + pictures are in the owners manual.

Salim