1998 Chevy Venture gets stuck in park

[venturenot]

When parked on an incline my 1998 Venture sometimes gets stuck in Park. This never occurs on Flat land and only occurs after the car has been parked on an incline (my driveway). The sticking is intermttent but one of these times a fear that I will not be able to get it out of park. Any suggestions as to the problem and solution?

Vehicle history: I purchased this car 2 months ago and it had 102,000 miles on it with a new engine installed at 100,000.

[rockwood84]

yeah put the emergency brake on before you let off the brake after you put it in park and the e- brake will catch the strain of the incline instead of the park gear.have you ever heard of stories about people the live on hills parking the vehicles in front of their house and go out the next morning and its down the hill. or be woke up by the popo in the middle of the night telling you your van is down the driveway . or worse telling you your van has hit 3-4 cars on its way to the bottom of the hill.use the e- brake ,save the wear on the park gear.

[venturenot]

The sequence I have been using when parking on a hill: foot on brake, shift into Park. apply the emergency brake. I believe this is the same sequence you are suggesting, but it results in the car getting stuck in park. I read the owners manual and they say the sequence should be: foot on brake, apply emergency brake, shift into park. I have been doing this and so far it is working (2 or 3 times). This is my first minivan, I have always driven smaller cars. I guess the extra weight makes parking more of an issue.

[rockwood84]

thats what i said foot on brake ,apply e- brake, shift into park. also you have to have your foot firmly on the brake to shift out of park or it is not going to come out of park. then let the e- brake off.now at night the headlights won't come on until the e-brake is off.