well alrighty then, guess ill try those options...hopefully it wont be nothing serious but rather something stupid

 

I would say it is most likely a shifter cable problem. Either the cable broke, came off of the shifter inside the Jeep, or came off of the lever on the transmission under the Jeep.

I would check the transmission lever first, as you won't have to take anything apart to see it. Climb under your Jeep. Look at the driver's side of the transmission, in the area near the front of your front driveshaft boot. You should be able to look up and see where the cable attaches to the transmission.
If the cable popped off of the transmission, try to pop the end of the linkage back onto the transmission lever. Try reaching up between the transmission and driveshaft, and push the transmission lever towards the back your Jeep as far as it will go. If it still in R, it should click one time while pushing the lever back. That will get you back into P. The end of the linkage should now be lined up with the transmision lever, and should pop onto it.
If it still attached to the transmission, then check the shifter end of the cable by removing the console. Not sure about the steps involved with that, so I will let others tell you about that.

Good luck!



Anthony

 

Ok....so Anthony was right!...the lever under the Jeep is fine....its popped back into P....she starts just fine but now the shifter just slides....so obviously something broke in the center console....probably due to the cheap plastic parts Jeep uses?...anyone have the steps how to remove the center console?

 

Just wanted to say thank-you to everyone's replies and help!...I got it done...you were a lot of help Anthony!...I'd you are ever in El Paso ill buy you a beer!...it turns out after I removed the center panel I saw the problem right away...the cable had popped out from the lever...so nothing broke?!...yay!!!

 

Glad I could help! You might want to wrap a couple of wire ties around the linkage and lever, to make sure it doesn't pop off again!

Anthony

 

Remember folks to allow the cable linkage Time to do it's job before moving the shift lever again. Rapid shifts that move the cable in it's housing too quickly can cause the ends to break or come loose. You can cause more pressure on the cable ends than they are designed to take- hence ''pop-off'' or breakage.

 

I had the same problem with my 2007 auto trans. The plastic clip on the end of the shift cable popped off of the shift lever in the center console. I pushed it back on and everything worked fine. My dealership said they had never had any reports of this happening. It has come off two other times since. Now I just check to see if it is firmly connected from time to time.

 

X3 on the shift cable.

 

Don't try to POP anything into gear when u have an auto. Chock a rear tire and crawl under to take a look at the linkages.

Otherwise shift the transfer case into neutral and tow it home.