Putting your car into gear is the next natural thing to do after turning it on – unless you have no intention of going anywhere. What happens if you can’t shift it into gear?
This is a crippling problem that car owners might encounter at a point. We will look at it in detail depending on whether you drive a manual or an automatic transmission vehicle.
Automatic Transmission Won’t Go Into Gear When the Car is Running.
Automatic transmission cars have a couple of safety features and actuators to prevent you from slipping the car into gear under dangerous conditions. Failure to select a gear could be when a safety condition hasn’t been met, or part of the safety mechanisms has failed.
Some common things that could keep an automatic transmission from going into gear include:
You Don’t Have a Foot Firmly on the Footbrake
Most automatic transmission vehicles won’t let you shift without a foot firmly planted onto the brake pedal.
This is important because automatic transmissions will immediately start creeping the vehicle as soon as the gear is engaged. There’s no clutch loading.
The vehicle’s safety features ensure that you start moving gradually only when you are ready to by locking you out until you step on the brake pedal. Moreover, you can control your speed better with the brake pedal, making it a smoother and safer experience.
A Door is Still Open
Another safety feature some modern cars have is locking you out of drive or reverse until all the doors (including the tailgate) are closed.
The concept is you wouldn’t want your car moving with a door or two moving. Consult with your vehicle’s manuals and confirm if it has such a lockout.
Better still, you could shut all the doors in the car and try slipping it into gear again. After all, it is just safer that way.
A Malfunctioning Shift Lock
The shift lock handles all that lockout from shifting into gear. If the relay controlling the shift lock or the shift lock mechanism is faulty, the shift column will never be free to go into gear no matter how hard you try.
A simple workout around would be using the manual Shift Lock release switch to disable the lock. However, the lock will kick back in when you put your car into park or try to move it from reverse to drive.
The most convenient and sensible solution would be having the relay and shift lock itself looked into and replaced if it’s faulty.
A Faulty Sensor
Another possible problem that could stop your car from unlocking the shift lever is a faulty sensor. Sensors monitor the lockout positions discussed above.
For instance, if your footbrake sensor isn’t working, the shift lock will never tell if you have a foot on the brake. Similarly, a faulty door sensor could tell the ECU a door is open while, in reality, all doors are locked.
Luckily, most cutout scenarios have accompanying problems. For instance:
- A faulty brake sensor means your brake lights won’t work too
- A defective door sensor will show a closed-door as open on the dashboard
The Case of Shift By Wire Vehicle
Recently, the number of manufacturers opting for a small switch or even buttons to control gear selection has increased. In this case, gear selection is managed by:
- A signal to the CAN bus when you press or move the selector to a position
- The signal is processed by a control module which ascertains if other conditions are met
- If they’re satisfied, it uses a set of relays and actuators to select the correct gear
While these news systems are robust and easier to control in increasingly computerized vehicles, they are harder to troubleshoot. Try going through possible safety lockout potentials if you have such a car (very common in hybrid and electric vehicles).
- Ensure foot is on the brake pedal
- Ensure all doors are locked
- Ensure you have a key with you in the car
- Confirm that there are no obstacles in the direction you want to move towards
- If after this you still can’t shift, have a qualified mechanic look into your vehicle.
A Manual Transmission Won’t Go into Gear With the Car Running
Manual transmissions tend to have fewer sensors. Any problem shifting into gear with the car running means you have a severe problem that you should have looked into as soon as possible.
Some common things that could accompany the failure include:
- A grinding noise once the car starts running
- Selecting a gear or changing gears is either impossible or harder than usual
- The car won’t come out of reverse with the engine running
- The car stalls even with the clutch almost in
Here are the top problems that could prevent your manual transmission vehicle from going into gear
A Damaged Clutch or Clutch Pedal
The clutch is the mastermind in a manual transmission. Most shifting problems start here. Failure to change gears could mean the clutch isn’t disengaging enough. The clutch isn’t getting enough tension to overcome the pressure plate and let gears change smoothly.
You could test this by engaging a gear before starting your car. Keep the clutch pedal fully depressed and turn on the vehicle. If it stumbles and jerks as if the clutch pedal isn’t pressed, you have a problem.
If you are lucky, the clutch pedal connection might be broken or simply out of alignment. In a more dire situation, the clutch itself will be the problem.
Low Transmission Fluid Levels
Manual vehicles still have transmission fluids. Even though it is in a closed system, its quality or levels could deteriorate over time due to physical damage or abuse.
The gearbox won’t be adequately lubricated when this happens, making it harder to align components well.
Moreover, vehicles with hydraulic clutches won’t engage or disengage the clutch fully if they don’t have enough hydraulic fluid in their reservoirs.
A Damaged Gearbox
Lastly, the problem could be with your gearbox. Perhaps abuse or an accident damaged it and left it with broken gears, warped shafts, or misaligned gates. If this is the case, you won’t be able to shift into gear until you have the gearbox replaced or repaired.
Gear Selector Lever Moves But the Car Doesn’t Go into Gear
Sometimes, the problem could be your gear selector moves into the desired position, but your car doesn’t seem to engage the gear.
If in a Manual Transmission
This problem isn’t common in a manual transmission. You could get something similar under the following circumstances.
The Shift Lever is Disconnected
If someone was working on your vehicle and forgot to reattach the shift lever to the Transmission, then your car won’t shift into gear no matter how you try.
You could confirm this by seeing how loose the shift lever seems. It will move around quickly, even without stepping on the clutch pedal.
This is very rare and will not happen unless someone disconnects the lever. The levers are also robust enough and rarely break on their own.
A Damaged Worn out Clutch that Doesn’t Engage
A worn out clutch will keep on slipping until it can’t hold anymore. While it might never get to the extent of making you feel like a gear isn’t engaged, Your car might fail to respond as well as it should in a selected gear.
A Damaged Gear Box
Damage in the gearbox that strips or dislocates a specific gear will make it impossible to select one or more gears in your Transmission. Everything will click into place, but no contact will be made, meaning the gearbox input shaft won’t connect to the output shaft. Technically, your vehicle won’t be in gear despite your selection.
Automatic Transmission Lever Moves But Car Not in Gear
If you have the same problem in an automatic transmission vehicle, several things could be the fault.
Low Transmission Fluid Levels
Automatic transmissions use hydraulic pressure to shuttle around gears. If the fluid is low, your vehicle won’t engage or disengage gears appropriately. This is not only an inconvenience but also a problem. Transmission fluid also cools and lubricates the gearbox.
Running low could totally damage your Transmission.
Check this too: Should I Add An Aftermarket Transmission Cooler?
Damaged Sensors, Control Solenoids, and Actuators
Most automatic cars have no mechanical connection to the gearbox. Once you select a gear, the car’s computer then decides if it should engage. It also decides when to shift up when in drive.
To work, it needs a couple of actuators, input from speed sensors, throttle position sensors, and a couple of other systems.
If there is a problem with the actuators, the gearbox won’t act on the information to shift gear.
If sensors are the problem, the signal to shift gears or get into a gear won’t make it to the actuators.
All in all, your car won’t shift into gear or make its way through gears.
A Damaged Transmission
Finally, a problem with the gears in your automatic Transmission could also make it fail to engage a gear, just like it’s the case with a manual transmission.
A snapped drive belt could prevent the vehicle from getting into any gear if you drive a CVT.