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2009 Impala LT stuck in park.

96K views 28 replies 19 participants last post by  alpagano@yahoo.com 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi,

Let's start this off by saying that this is the time I have ever visited this forums and that I am not a car genius. So, please bare with me.
Today, I drove to work and everything in my car was working fine. I parked as usual, and left to work. After the end of my shift, I started the car to go home, but I could not shift from parking. I tried everything from from braking to wiggling the shifter, but it was no use. The button on the shift stick would not press. I decided to take the middle panel apart, and after messing around with pretty much everything, I accidentally pressed a silver "button" found a few inches under the stick, on the passenger side. Pressing the button allowed me to shift. But now the key get's stuck in the ignition.
I also noticed that some wires were out. These are four cables in a grey adapter on the passenger side. The adapter had two blue tabs, one on each side. It has silver fixtures inside for the cables to go on, but I don't know how to remove them.
UPDATE
I managed to take the metal fixtures out of the grey adapter. There are pieces of cable in each of them and they are labeled "A,B,C,D,E." The problem now is that they were already broken by the time I got to them, so I don't know which cable corresponds to which letter. There is a green cable, a purple, a black and a yellow.
Thank you for readying, I hope you guy can help me fix this.
Sorry for not knowing the actual names of things.
 

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#2 · (Edited)
I believe those wires hooked to the BTSI (brake transaxle shift interlock) solenoid. I have seen a few of those wires brake at the connector and cause the issue you described. Your key is getting stuck in the ignition because the key lock solenoid is not being grounded threw the BTSI solenoid. The solenoid needs to be reinstalled like it was to it's pivot points, and the wiring fixed. A new wire harness connector to the BTSI solenoid will have thicker wire connected to the terminals that would be less likely to break. For whatever reason GM has the solenoid move along with the shifter and the wires eventually break from flexing while the vehicle is shifted from park to drive, etc. If you reuse the old terminals hopefully you did not damage the connector nor terminals when you tried to remove them. Here is a chart showing what wire goes where and what each wire is used for.
Automatic Transmission Shift Lock Control Solenoid (with Floor Shifter)

Pin _____ color ________ use
A _______black ________ground
B ____green/white ______A/T Shift Lock Control Solenoid Supply Voltage
C ____Purple/white ______Steering Column Key Cylinder Lock Solenoid Control
D ________- ___________ Not Used
E _______ - ____________Not Used
F _______Yellow ________ Accessory Voltage
 
#3 ·
Hi,

You diagram seems right. I have managed to test the purple wire and it does seem to be the key. They way it worked was odd though. I accidentally touched the purple to the green and I heard the key slot click and I was able to remove the key. Yet, I still have not managed anything else to work. Any ideas?
 
#4 ·
ImpalaShift, I'm sorry you've been having frustrations with your Impala! While we as customer service representatives are not able to provide much in the way of do-it-yourself information, I hope that you get some great feedback from the forum.

If you have any questions about recalls or warranty information, or wanted our assistance in locating and working with a dealership, please don't hesitate to contact me through private messaging on the forum. (We ask that you please include your name, contact information, and the last 8 digits of your VIN in your message.)

Best,

Katie
Chevrolet Customer Service
 
#5 ·
The only Idea I have is that the old connector must be too damaged to be repaired and now you need to get a new wire harness connector and pigtail from your dealer, wire up the new connector according to the diagram above and reconnect the new connector to the BTSI solenoid/the button and the system should work.
 
#6 ·
Alright, so I went to the mechanic--nasty thing to do in a college student's budget--and he said to find the solenoid, as they usually don't carry them, and take it to be installed. I looked at the only junk yard in the area and they said they don't carry Impala, but they have other Chevy vehicles. They said to find out if any other Chevy vehicles use the same solenoid and then maybe they can help me find it. Same goes for the adapter.
Do you know if any other Chevy models would use the same?

Thanks!
 
#8 ·
This appears to be an all to common issue with these cars. I have a 2009 which has not failed (yet) and a 2010 that has. It rendered my daughter's 2010 car unusable since she could not get it into drive although the car was otherwise perfectly functional. That could have been a serious issue had she been somewhere less safe after dark for instance.

I was able to pry the trim away, and temporarily remove the shifter to get the housing underneath off. That exposed the magic button therein which allows the shifter to move when it is pressed. Why Chevy does not at least provide an access hole thru which a screwdriver or something else could be poked to depress that should it fail without requiring that disassembly is beyond me. If one poorly designed or improperly wired component can fail and make the car useless, there ought to be an easy way to bypass that component.

I called the dealer, and they indicated that there are no recalls on this car, and that since I have 60K on it, the warranty does not cover it. My argument that this is directly related to the transmission (in that you can't make use of the transmission, or the engine for that matter if it fails, and it is an integral part of the functioning of the transmission) fell on deaf ears. Not covered by the powertrain warranty was their answer. This is pretty crappy for a car that is less than two years old IMHO.

Anyway, I can probably figure out a way to creatively rewire this to "fix" the problem, but the fact that the whole thing moves with the shifter leads me to believe that there is a good chance of it happening again, and that time it may be in a much less convenient location.

My question is, does anyone know how to permanently bypass this "feature"? The protection it provides is minimal, and the whole thing was really designed from what I can tell to prevent young children from putting the car in gear accidentally. I am fairly certain that the automakers agreed with the NHTSA to install these interlocks for that purpose. I have no young children, and even if I did, they would not be playing in a car in the first place, let alone one with the key in the ignition. I have a 1983 Mercedes diesel with a floor shifter (auto trans) and it had no such safety feature and the lack of that was no issue. Yes, you could shift the car out of park at any time, but so what?

Is there an easy way to permanently disable this system? Would there be other issues, such as perhaps causing the key to not be able to be removed from the ignition, or the ability to attempt to start the car while it is in gear if I did so? Based on the way it failed, I assume that if it loses power (due to a broken wire, or even a dead battery) that it fails in the "locked" position. If that is the case, then it seems I would have to perhaps run power to it that is at least on when the car is running which might be a pain in the backside to get to that location. I was hoping perhaps there is a way I could jumper something to place it permanently in an unlocked state. As long as that is not a big power drain or something, I don't see an issue with doing that.

I am frustrated that the dealer is no help with something that should not be an issue on a 20 month old car. This, along with the myriad of other silly but expensive to repair issues with the car has really made me question my judgment in buying these vehicles. When they are working properly, they drive fairly well, and they are pretty fuel efficient for their size. I would really love to disable this on the 2010, and then proactively do the same for our 2009 if at all possible.

Thanks for any advice you might be able to provide me.
 
#9 ·
2006 gear shift / key stuck

I want to thank you to all of you who have posted notes on here. After being on the phone yesterday for 2 hours trying to see if there was a recall, what GM was planning on doing about this gear shift problem that seems to be a very big problem. I basiclly got no where with them. I read through all these post and decided to attempt to fix my moms car myself. I have to say that I am a female. So I followed all the instructions. Took apart the console. No problems there. Found the wires and the button. I saw immediately the green wire was broke. Went to Chevy dealer, bought a foot of green wire and the silver connector all for $3.61. Came home and rewired the thing myself. But the only thing I should of done before putting the console back together, was to see if the key would come out. My mistake. So went back to Chevy dealer and bought yellow, purple, black wires and more silver connectors. I will splice together all these wires myself. I am really disappointed with GM for not going forth with a recall. They said my mom first had to take her car to Chevy dealer to put on dianostic machine. I totally understand that but who can afford $138.00 just to put on dianostic machine. I explained to GM, like millions of americans that are getting SCREWED by GM they should be responsible to making the wiring harness too short in the first place. I hope more folks read these post and are able to fix their cars just like I did and not take them in to auto machanic and pay hundreds of dollars to get this part fixed. Again thank you so much for posting all these instructions, it proves that woman can fix this gear shift/key issue.
 
#10 ·
Good job and keep after them :eek:k3:
 
#11 ·
Had the same issue with my 08 SS. Happened in a gas station and I needed to be flat bedded to the dealer. Should be a recall/bullEtin. Has happened to way to many cars.
 
#12 ·
got the same issue right now. it's acutally the third time this has happened where the ground wire snapped out of the harness. got sick of it and just broke the tabs off the fake wood panel for easy removal, so I can get my hand in there and push the button. This is annoying, should be recalled.
 
#14 ·
Suggest there's a wiring problem with the replacement. IIRC, the solenoid controls both the shift lock and the ignition key removal. I don't have the schematic handy to be able to help further.
 
#15 ·
It should be noted that if I put the green and purple together I can release the key

Automatic Transmission Shift Lock Control Solenoid (with Floor Shifter)

Pin _____ color ________ use
A _______black ________ground
B ____green/white ______A/T Shift Lock Control Solenoid Supply Voltage
C ____Purple/white ______Steering Column Key Cylinder Lock Solenoid Control
D ________- ___________ Not Used
E _______ - ____________Not Used
F _______Yellow ________ Accessory Voltage
 
#16 ·
Anyone know of a how-to article for removing the center console so I could attempt to fix the wire. I did this once before, but now it sees after I remove the two screws next to the shifter and the four in the storage department, it still feels like its stuck on something. Perhaps I'm missing something.
 
#17 ·
I have a 2010 Impala LS w/3500 v6 4 speed automatic, former fleet car. I got it used with 45k. So far my car has been shifting fine. I don't know if the previous owner(s) had the shifter fixed or not. Does this just happen out of the blue? Is this a very common problem with the 8th gen. 2006-2013 Impala?
 
#19 ·
Only an issue with console shifters, and only if you shift into L. If you don't move the shifter all the way back ever, the wires will never get stressed.
 
#21 ·
Wow, the wiring must be caught on something. Normally the issue is that the wires aren't long enough to reach when you shift to L, so they break.
 
#23 ·
I had this happen to me. This is easy to fix though. Remove the six 7mm bolts and the gear shift trim. Figure out which wire needs to be replaced. It is easier to get an connector wiring harness from a Chevy dealer (Part Number 13583923). Because it includes the grey connector and wires with the female terminal that is already crimped. You just need to get a wire connector for 20-16 gauge wire. If you don't want to get the harness, you may get the parts individually. Here are the part numbers: grey connector 12064762, blue terminal position assurance 12064764, female terminal 12064971, crimper 12039500, and removal screw driver 12094429. I STRONGLY recommend just buying the wiring harness, because the wires must be terminated correctly. If it is done incorrectly, your radio will not work correctly and could have other problems. The harness cost around $30, while the crimper alone cost around $150.
 
#25 ·
Same thing happened to me in my 2010 Impala LT, shift stuck in park. After taking center console off (unscrew 4 screws in storage compartment, pop off bezel, 2 screws up front and lift hard from the back) I found the manual override button, which you have to use to move the shifter so you can get the console out over it, with foot on brake. Don't 4get to unhook accessory cable to get whole console out. Next I took a circle drill and drilled a circle thru the side of the console to give me access to the shifter manual override button. Thanks GM, that hole should have already been there, but then you do this on purpose to make people take the car in to the shop. I rode for like 6 months having to use the button to get it out of park, then one day my key wouldn't go all the way to the off position so I couldn't get it out, and had to unhook the battery every time I left the car. Real nice GM, why in the world would you have such a "feature", to get the key stuck in the ignition? Again, to force people to take it to the shop. I had a 1988 Olds Delta 88 where I could take the key out of the ignition when the car was running. Also, why is there no key for the trunk? Everytime I had to get a tool out of the trunk I had to hook up the battery. Why isn't the trunk release manual like the hood if there's not going to be a key?

Anyways, thanks Bart77 for the wire color coding chart, but for those who don't know terminal positions A-F, the purple wire (key lock) is on the bottom right, looking at the connector as plugged in (from the passenger seat), the green wire (shift lock) is above the purple wire and the black ground wire is above the green one (top right). The yellow accessory wire is top left. I found my black and yellow wires unconnected. The green wire must have failed first, then the ground came out making the purple one not work.

It was impossible to re-hookup the wires to the connector so I bought a new one, already prewired with much thicker wire (16 or 18 gauge) online for 20 bucks (AC Delco part PT3923), vs $32 at the dealer. There's 2 blue clips on the sides of the old one, so I put those into the new one just in case. I stripped the ends of 4 of the 6 new wires and stripped the ends of the original (very thin) wires and twisted them together and put electrical tape over the copper. I hooked up the battery and started the car and the shifter works! But the key still won't come out. I unplugged the connector and checked voltage between ground and the green wire and it was about 2.5V, but no volts between ground and the purple wire, so I figure it must be a fuse.

I checked my book to see if there's a BTSI fuse or one that has the word "key" or "ignition cylinder" but no. Thanks GM. I found it though, it's called the RAP fuse, 10 amp, located under the glove box in an impossible location (thanks GM), got it out tested it with ohmmeter and yep it was blown. After a half hour of being upside down trying to put the new fuse in with a pair of needle nose and a fuse tool, I finally got it. Hooked the battery back up but still no volts coming from the purple wire but I figured maybe it only gives volts when it needs to so I put the connector back on, and the key came out!

My goodness what an ordeal. Now GM has known about this problem since at least 2006, and in 4 years (mine is a 2010) they still make the wires way too thin and too short so the problem continues. That tells me GM does this on purpose, they probably spent some money on some anti-engineers to design this thing to break so the dealers can make more money in the shop. Makes me wonder what else the anti-engineers designed in this car that will bite me later.
 
#28 ·
My 2010 impala had the shiftier problem today, locked up in park and would not come out, this also could be a brake light switch on peddle , check this first,,,make sure your brake lights are working....
first time. with passengers seat back all the way I could pull back the side of console and reach hand up and push button,,,,IT WORKED,,,If it keeps acting up I will fix the connector,,But for now everything is working,,,I went one step farther ,I drilled a 1/4 inch hole right where the button is so I can insert a pencil or Bic pen into hole and push button for emergency. Works great. cost was $00. small hole unnoticeable with seat up 1/2 way. hard to see with seat all the way back.
 
#29 ·
My 2010 impala had the shiftier problem today, locked up in park and would not come out, this also could be a brake light switch on peddle , check this first,,,make sure your brake lights are working....
first time. with passengers seat back all the way I could pull back the side of console and reach hand up and push button,,,,IT WORKED,,,If it keeps acting up I will fix the connector,,But for now everything is working,,,I went one step farther ,I drilled a 1/4 inch hole right where the button is so I can insert a pencil or Bic pen into hole and push button for emergency. Works great. cost was $00. small hole unnoticeable with seat up 1/2 way. hard to see with seat all the way back.
 
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