2000 Lincoln Town Car

[ljamison2]

My car will not go into park and I end up having to use the emergency to keep the car stabilized. When I come back to drive the car it will not start because the car is not in park. I run the gears through a few times and eventually it will catch into park and I am start the car. Could this be a gear shift problem and is it going to be very expensive and will the repair be something I could do myself seeing how my mechanical skills are average at best. Thank you.

[Towncar]

I can't say for sure on the 2000 however, in earlier years a plate on the lower side of the steering column works loose and causes these kind of problems.

You have to get on your back, crawl under there near the pedals, look at the attachments on the end of the column, wiggle the shift lever too and see if anythings loose.