Help!!! Car won't go anywhere, like the brakes are locked up. Trans prob?

[RJansen658]

I think you are on the right track with the shift cable. There is no adjusmtent on W-Body shift cables, BUT at the transmission end of the cable, if the plastic collar breaks or cracks, it will give you the exact syptoms you describe. But you can easily tell if that is the case, by trying to start the car when it is in reverse. Use the key to unlock the steering wheel and shifter without starting it, then shift it to reverse and try to start it. If it starts, then it isn't really in reverse, the linkage is messed up somewhere. There is also the possibility that the shift lever inside the transmission broke, in which case you won't be able to start it in reverse because the neutral safety switch is still sensing it is in reverse. In any case, with an assistant working the shifter, you should clearly be able to watch the shift lever on the outside of the trans move with a definite click at each gearshift position, one the way down and the on the way back up through the gears.

 

Good Luck, I hope you don't need a trans.

 

However, if you start the car, shift it into drive or reverse, and then hit the gas and it bogs down, like you are brake torquing it, you need a new trans. Assuming of course your brakes are indeed ok. I say this because even if the linkage is totally jacked, and it is stuck in park all the time, when you gave it gas it would just rev up, not bog. If it bogs then the engine is fighting something, either the brakes or the transmission internals.

[kadeas]

Damn, damn, damn! I havn't got to drive my car for over a month without something needing fixed ever since I got it....5 years ago!