Stumped and Stuck in Park

[73AZSwinger]

Hi All,

I am in the process of replacing my starter (318 motor). Wow is that a tight fit. I have the bolts off and the wires disconnected, but getting it out of there is a bit puzzling.

I rolled my vehicle halfway out of the garage in neutral to have room to work underneath it. I put the vehicle in Park, and disconnected the battery and unbolted the starter. Last night when I went to pull it back in, I reattached the battery and went to move it from Park into Neutral and it didn't feel right. Basically my selector shows it in Neutral, the parking brake is off, but i am still in park. The vehicle won't budge. I have tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. Is this at all related to having the starter off? Anyway, if any of you have encountered a stuck gear shift like this can you please share how you fixed it. Thank you I'm definitely an amateur at this kind of thing.

 

[kocuda]

If your car is on in incline, sounds like the parking pawl in the trans is being held tight by the weight of the car trying to roll backward. Sometimes it takes a strong pull on the shift lever to get it to disengage.