My husband got in my van and drove to work this morning and it wouldn't switch into gears when he got to work. The gear stick moves but it won't switch gears like reverse, neutral or park. What can this be?

Maybe the linkage became disconnected from the transmission. I assume this was something sudden. Like it ran well when parked... and now nothing happens... not that something happened while it was in motion.

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Originally Posted by smoothy

Maybe the linkage became disconnected from the transmission. I assume this was something sudden. Like it ran well when parked ...and now nothing happens....not that something happened while it was in motion.

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Yes it was fine driving it was when he stopped and tried to park the vehicle.

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Originally Posted by kaylamorse

yes it was fine driving it was when he stopped and tried to park the vehicle.

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OK... sounds like the linkage came off when he went to shift from drive to reverse or park.

How easy this will be to fix depends on if he can reach it in the parlking lot, and how mechanically inclined he is... and what actually failed. If it's a clip that came off its an easy fix, especially if he's lucky enough to find it on the ground... if something actually broke.. it might need a tow.

What make model and year is this... some vehicles have cable shifters rather than shift rods. Some actually have electrical connections and no mechanical linkages.

You need to look up how the linkage is done on your model. You gave us no clue. Some use a cable, some a shift rod. My guess would be a broken or disconnected shift cable.