Hey fellas, I just picked up a pretty complete and clean 1961 Cadillac Sedan Deville. It runs quite well, and the transmission seems to be pretty happy. However, if you just nudge/bump the shifter down while the transmission is in park, it pops out of park and into drive. I haven't had any issues with it, but curious if this is perhaps as simple as a shifter linkage adjustment? It seems as though it could be. I'm just going through the car, replacing some rubber fuel and brake lines, and doing some service, to make her a good driver. Thoughts? Any preventative maintenance (transmission, or otherwise) outside of standard stuff that I should be putting on my list? I'm new to these Cadillacs. It's all stock, 390/Hydramatic.
I'm sure it's the linkage....62 years of the body mounts compressing and just use will make things get wacky over time.
Clean up the shift detents down at the base of the mast jacket & check for broken or oil soaked engine or trans mounts.
The previous owners “may” never have pulled the shift lever towards the steering wheel much and moved the lever into reverse or drive rounding off the lever notch under the turn signal switch on the column. After removing the steering wheels you can carefully detach the signal apparatus and see the shifter arm notches. I had to file one once to keep A car in park. The are also grommets on the linkage rods that may be soft and need changing. Good luck. Nice Cadillac.
Very interesting! You definitely don't need to pull the shifter towards the wheel to get it out of park! Okay, I've got a pretty solid list of stuff to check: - Shifter linkage rod grommets - Shifter arm notches (under wheel and turn signals apparatus) - Clean up shift detents at the base of the mast jacket - Check for broken/oil soaked engine or trans mounts - Shifter linkage I THOUGHT that I was getting off shift this morning, and intended on trying to get this all squared away today. However, staffing shortages at work and others not wanting to show up on the weekend prevented me from going home! Hopefully someone shows up tomorrow, and I can check this stuff out.
What ever you do until you’ve fixed the problem….apply the parking brake EVERYTIME you park the car. Older Ford owners know this for sure..
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