Automatic transmission shifter locked out…

[Rockridgeboss]

This morning I started my 2021 Gladiator, let it warm up a few minutes and shifted to ”Drive”…and nothing happened. The check engine light came on and I got a “Service Shifter” message on display. Would not go into any gear, just locked into “Park”. 8 speed automatic with 8400 miles less than a year old. Was working fine when parked a week ago.
Had it towed to dealer for warranty repair. Tow driver said he had seen a Wrangler do the same thing. Used the “emergency release“ under the console to get it into neutral for load onto tow truck and away it went. Now waiting to hear from dealer. I am guessing it is something electronic.
Anyone had this issue? Did not find anything on the forum that addressed this.

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[Snake Eyes]

This morning I started my 2021 Gladiator, let it warm up a few minutes and shifted to ”Drive”…and nothing happened. The check engine light came on and I got a “Service Shifter” message on display. Would not go into any gear, just locked into “Park”. 8 speed automatic with 8400 miles less than a year old. Was working fine when parked a week ago.
Had it towed to dealer for warranty repair. Tow driver said he had seen a Wrangler do the same thing. Used the “emergency release“ under the console to get it into neutral for load onto tow truck and away it went. Now waiting to hear from dealer. I am guessing it is something electronic.
Anyone had this issue? Did not find anything on the forum that addressed this.

Possible shift lock solenoid failure? That is what keeps a drive from shifting out of park when it should not.If it fails you get stuck in park.

Did the tow driver release the solenoid to allow it to shift/manual park overide? If so, it should have been drivable at that point and did not need to be towed. Once that override/release is done you can shift to drive, drive it and put in park wherever you get.

Just make sure you have the brake on when you take it out of neutral to drive.

Could also just be the auto park freaking out for some reason, which requires doing a lot of “hokey pokey” moves to get it to go back to normal.

 

[Rockridgeboss]

Ok. The driver did release the solenoid. I did not know it could be driven at that point! Guess I will know if it happens again! I will repost when dealer gives me a diagnosis/fix. Hopefully Jeep will reimburse my $255 tow bill. I think they will since this is covered by warranty.

 

[syreeves]

Many many things come from a bad ESS battery. They get blamed for a lot. I can't think of why this would result in your issue but... they get blamed for a lot of stuff here.

 

[Labswine]

Had the same issue a couple of years ago in my Wife's 2019 GC Ltd. Had to get it towed to the dealership. Used the Jeep system so towing didn't cost me. After a few tries of start/shutdown it eventually came out of Park and the tow truck driver was able to drive it onto the truck and take it to the dealer. They fixed what ever was wrong and haven't had an issue since.

 

[Gvsukids]

The check engine light came on and I got a “Service Shifter” message on display.

Lots of info out there...

https://fourwheeltrends.com/what-does-it-mean-when-your-jeep-says-service-shifter/

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...steering-and-other-intermittent-faults.46673/

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/“service-shifter”-message.35529/

 

[NachoRuby]

Had the same issue a couple of years ago in my Wife's 2019 GC Ltd. Had to get it towed to the dealership. Used the Jeep system so towing didn't cost me. After a few tries of start/shutdown it eventually came out of Park and the tow truck driver was able to drive it onto the truck and take it to the dealer. They fixed what ever was wrong and haven't had an issue since.

Fyi, there's a shifter release, for emergency towing.

 

[Snake Eyes]

And for anyone who ends up with a freaky auto park hokey pokey dance, you might find this handy

 

[Rusty PW]

Questions. Did the OP use the remote start to warm it up? And then climb in and tried to drive away without hitting the starter button again? Seen this a few times.

 

[Rockridgeboss]

So it turns out the shifter is broken inside the mechanism. Not sure how that happened with it just sitting there for a week...and I am definitely not that guy that is hard on the shifter.
To make matters worse, dealer cannot find parts, not even on backorder from Jeep. Just plain not available to the dealers as of yet. They had me contact Jeep Customer Care who opened a case file for me and told me someone should be calling me tomorrow to find out what can be done. Also told me that the shifter is considered a "wearing part that only has 12 month 12,000 mile warranty (lucky? that it broke now as I only have 8400 miles on it, but end of March is 12 months since purchase). Not sure how something Jeep calls a "wear item" does not have a replacement readily available.
Pretty bummed as I had a trip planned next week, the first time off I have had in 2 years...hopefully JCC will take care of me.
Stay tuned!

 

[Jlaw]

The same thing happened to my 2021 Gladiator on Wednesday 2/16/22 also. I was driving along. There was a clunk, the D indicator started flashing. I stopped the vehicle and it would not drive after I stopped. Had to call a tow truck.
Dealer says it is an input module failure and it is on back order. They can do nothing for 7 days then they can expedite it, due to customer vehicle out of service, if there is no progress.
Mine is 3 months old with 2,400 miles.

 

[DAVECS1]

So I have also seen yhis behavior when the throttle snaps shut to far and the engine almost dies. It does not seem like it is close to dying but the rpms will float to 400 and that triggers output shaft speed limit protection and it throws the truck into neutral to keep it running. This is an issue I have seen 5 or 6 times and I actually had a tube that would do it quite a bit. Took a while to fix it.

 

[Rockridgeboss]

Ok, time for update! The problem turned out to be a broken shifter, part #3 in the attached photo. Not sure how that happened in the time frame between being parked in my garage for a week before I got in it to drive (nobody had access to a locked Jeep!). It mysteriously broke itself! Took several calls to Jeep Customer Care to find and get the part shipped to my dealer. Once it arrived it took about 30 minutes to install. I have not found anyone else that has had this part break, so I am hoping that it just got some rough handling at the factory during the production build. If anyone has had this problem, I would be curious to hear about it. Jeep came home today, but was finished a week ago. I was out of town for work, so I could not get it picked up until now. Warranty covered everything although I am awaiting a refund check for the tow bill.
Hope to see some you on the trail, if any of can afford the gas!

 

[DAVECS1]

Glad it was resolved, interesting break!

 

[Maximus Gladius]

My transmission had that happen at 32k kms (19,880 miles) where it blew the code P1B14-00 Park By Wire, Unintended Park Position and it wouldn’t come out of park. My transmission implosion @32,800k kms (20,380k miles) story is the result of glycol contamination from the factory that has torn my transmission apart. Used the jeep roadside assistance to get it to the dealership which didn’t cost me anything.

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