Can't get it out of PARK
 

Travelled to Lake George for the weekend. Great time... great weather...

All packed up to leave and head back home. On Sunday morning, started the car, got out and loaded the luggage, got back in and oh #$&*! Can't get it out of "PARK" Shut the engine OFF.... #&$@# Can't get my keys out.

Short story, waited until this morning, got a flatbed and headed to the next dealer. After an hour... car's ready... no parts replaced... just adjuisted some cables.

Anyone one experienced this weirdest thing?

New glitch to me...hey, how'd they get the X up the flat bed slope if the sumbitch was stuck in Park? (Espc w/AWD?!)

Wow...did you try turning the wheel while trying to get the key out?

dunno if this is related or not, but when we swap kewl x5's brakes last saturday, the car was on the lift and only in park. no handbrake. the wheels could be turned by hand... interesting huh?

It is called torque lock, you have to push the car forvard with some help or other car, or just rock it back and forth, some cars have the button under small cover near the gear shifter, you push it and is it unlocks the gears. It is the same as the parking brake with up hill position of the car. You can't just press the button and relise it, you have to pull it a beat more and then you can pres the relise button.

Never seen it on an X5, but it is not uncommon on other brands. The cables are used to tell the ignition switch where the transmission selector is (ie what position), when the vehicle has a console shift (ie not a steering column shift) The cables can stretch, require adjustment, etc. Usually happens after work was done in that area, ie something was disturbed.

Haven't heard it called torque lock, but I don't think it was likely that the park pawl (the device that stops the car rolling) was engaged and held with the weight of the car against it (what I think another poster meant), because while that will hold it in park, it won't affect whether you can get the ignition key out or not, which was the OP's other problem.

And to load it on a flatdeck, I would have used the mini-dollies, or skates, that tow truck drivers use to remove an illegally parked car. Easier than getting inside the vehicle sometimes, or if the key isn't available. Many vehicles that get pulled up onto flatdecks were locked, so skates are the quickest way to get out of Dodge before the owner comes back.

Hayaku: Whew, that is weird. I gotta think about that for a few. I understood the wheel dollies and fig'd that's what they did. I jes'wanted to hear the poster's info, as the BMW road ass't I've experienced was not equipped or capable, IQ-wise, to pull that crab dolly deal off.

I might be missing something here, but shouldn't the wheels turn without the handbrake on? What would stop them? When you turned one wheel, did an opposing wheel rotate in the opposite direction? The parking pawl/ratchet is in the trans, and so one wheel spinning forward by hand with the driveline fixed will just spin the opposing wheel in reverse. Or did I misunderstand?

Jeff

Jeff,

Just a thought, might be the front wheels they are refering to. X drive releases the clutch pack to the front wheels with ignition off, so the front prop shaft can spin freely through the front diff. Not the rear though, its always connected to the gearbox, so if in park (auto), not possible to turn just 1 wheel freely, without the opposite wheel spinning in the opposite direction.

Mat

The tow guy was great... took the boot off the shifter and simply looking at the mechanism, you can see that there is this thing the blocks the shifter from going down... simply push it out of the way and the shifter goes down..