1.6l tranny wont shift out of park

[hektek13]

the car has been sitting for awhile but was started in last two months and now i cant get the shift lever to move for anything!!!!!!!! ifs its jammed up how can i solve this dilema?

[stepchyld]

When trying to shift, are you applying pressure to the brake pedal? if not, try it. Many autos (and I think mx3 is one), won't shift out of park unless pressure is applied to the brakes.

If that's not the case, when you press the big button on the shift lever (not the little HOLD button below it) to shift from Park, is there some pressure? How much? Can you hear something moving inside the shifter?

If you're savvy with some light auto work, you could remove the airbox and take a look at the shift lever on the top of the transmission. If it's been sitting for a while, there's a slim chance some little critter carried something up there and whatever-it-may-be is blocking the linkage from moving...

[Nd4SpdSe]

There's also the little unlock switch on the base that you stick your key into, could see if that unlocks it.

[stepchyld]

Oh man, I completely forgot about that! Good call.
What year is your car?
I never messed with the slot Nd4SpdSe mentioned, but it is there...
Try it, if it doesn't help, try the following:
Previous owner of my 94#2 had figured out a trick and passed it to me with the car...
Here's that method: 94+ have a little plug on the shifter console, passenger side of the shifter, opposite the 'gear indicator strip' (I'm not sure what that is actually called). remove the plug with a little knife or something small. You can use a long nail or screwdriver, whatever will fit into the hole, to press down on a lever inside that'll unlock the shifter. You'll have to stick it in, press down, move and press down again to hunt for the lever since you can't really see it. Once you feel the lever move, you should be able to shift - if that's the problem and your car is 94 or newer...
If you have 92 or 93, its different. Should be a little rectangular piece in the same place as described above. it's a lever, or rather, the 'slide' for the lever, slide it forward (if I remember correctly), and it should release the shifter.
As for a real fix, I don't know yet...