Unable to move car out of "Park" and dash warning lights are on

A

andrewajc

New member
Here's a little background information. About 4-5 weeks ago I had some issues with my alternator which eventually resulted in having it rebuilt and also had the serpentine belt replaced. Everything has been working fine since then up until this morning when I went out and tried to start my car it would just make the *click click* noise. I did not drive it all day yesterday but I did drive it on Saturday and noticed that my hvac lights etc.. would flicker bright and dark.

Back to this morning... so I grabbed my battery charger and put it on 10A to charge my battery for about 4.5 hours and was able to get the car started. However, now on my dash i have the following warning lights:
4LO, VSC Trac, VSC Off, ABS, E-brake, and X-REAS.

I cannot move out of gear from "Park" although I can if i press that little button down on the top right of my shifter to bypass it and I can move it into gear. I did not try to drive it as I was worried i may cause further damage. I have tried removing the battery for 15 minutes to see if it resets anything. I have made sure my gas cap is tight as well.

I'm going to have a friend stop by with an ODBII reader soon but was wondering if anyone has experienced this before? I think my battery is pooched and was hoping to charge my battery and have it run so I can drive to a walmart and pick up an optima red top but I didn't get that far :(

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
 
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Bad alt again? Its very possible given that it was rebuilt. Low voltage could cause these lights to do weird things and would result in another dead battery. I'm no mechanic but have turned a few wrenches. Do you have a multimeter or anything?

Good luck man.
 
I would reccomend you get the easy stuff out of the way while you wait on your friend.

~Check all your fuses
~Have the battery tested & replaced if needed (Auto Parts stores usually do this for free)
~If you can have the alternator tested also that would be good.
~Visually inspect the battery cables, alternator cable, ground cables for loose connections.

I have a feeling that your car may be "freaking out" because of erratic voltage. Most modern OBDII vehicles have built in failsafes in the computer modules to shut-off if the voltage becomes erratic or dangerously high, granted you can still fry a module even with these fail safes. I suspect that is your problem, if you check all those things and everything is still wacky, you're going to probably need to take it to a shop or dealer for further diagnostics.
 
I checked my fuses and they look good. The battery cable and terminals are a bit dirty so i'm going to clean them. I'm hoping its a failsafe as you said BlackWorksInc. My friend will be over today with the odbii reader and we'll see what the diagnostic code says.

Thanks for everyones input!
 
This happened me and it was my ECU fuse inside the car, also there's a release button to get the car into gear, under the little tab by the shifter
 
I just checked my ECU fuse on the inside and in the engine bay. No dice... still intact :(

I'm tempted to bypass and move my car into park but i'm worried its actually a problem and theres a reason why i shouldn't put my car into drive :S

Thanks for the suggestion btw
 
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