Cannot select park.

Steve C

Member
Hello all, name is Steve, new to the forum, new to the p6 and also new to auto boxes, I purchased my car a few weeks ago, and when i got it home realised that i had no kickdown, and could not select park, also its very clunkey when selecting reverse, the car is 1974 v8 with a bw 65 box( i think)( the trans dipstick is on the near side same as the engine dipstick).
I have now sorted the kickdown problem ( the carpet had moved forward and was restricting the throttle pedal.
I have been under the car and cleaned all the underside around gearbox and can see what i believe is the cable connecting the gear selector to the pivot arm on the off side of the gearbox casing.
Question is can the cable at the pivot end be adjusted, or should it be adjusted?? and what can be checked or adjusted to try and stop this clunk when selecting reverse.( idle speed is set at about 650)
Sorry if this sounds a very novice type question, any help would be great. regards Steve.
 
The selector cable can be adjusted. A BW65 shouldn't be able to snap the pawl, so it is probably the cable adjustment. The spherical seat on ther gearlever can break up and cause problems such as a lack of travel. I would disconnect the inner cable at the lever on the gearbox, move the lever by hand into the PARK position, then make sure that park works and the propshaft won't turn, if that's the case, then if the sperical seat is OK, adjust the cable to suit.

As for the clunk selecting REVERSE, that could be incorrect kickdown cable adjustment, or excess play in the driveline/diff mountings. On the 65 you can get harsh engagement of REVERSE without having the same thing happen when selecting forward drive because of the front drum design.
 
Harvey, many thanks for your speedy reply, i will get the car up on ramps again tomorrow and try what you have suggested, regards Steve.
 
Up on ramps this morning, crawled under, disconnected cable from the lever, and found the lever moved ok in all positions including park.
Car starts ok in park and the prop was locked. the gear lever needs a bit of a wiggle to select park, adjusted the saddle end of the cable by one turn, reconnected and its a bit better, it feels as if the resistance to the movement of the gear stick is at the gear stick end if that makes any sense , any way thanks for the help, at least i can select park now, so thats an other thing to tick off the list. regards Steve.
 
The resistance at the lever may be the spherical seat worn or broken, or the lever assembly can move on the tunnel.
 
Back
Top