I have a mazda 626 2000 4 cyl. auto. My shifter moves to every position but my transmission always stays in park physically. Can you suggest what to look at. Thank you Peter.

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It definitely sounds like you have a bad shifter cable. Not a very expensive part, but can be a pain to get changed.

I looks to me that there is either problem with shifter or possibly transmission. Not being able to remove key is a sign that shifter in not fully in park position and key trap won't let you to remove it. That also will prevent.you from starting because almost all cars.with automatic transmission allow.for.start in park and neutral position

Sounds like you either have a cracked valve body or stuck valves inside of the transmission.

it does sound like a loose transmission shifter

the shift linkage is directly below your auto transmission shifter. simply place in park, undo the bolt joining the shifter to the transmission, push on the transmission shifter at the other end so it clicks fully into park and tighten the bolt up hard. then check for normal operation.

just remember chances are when your pushing down on the shifter to drive that the direction your pushing at the transmission is reversed so park should be towards the rear of the vehicle and drive is towards the front. but may not always be the case. best bet is to get a mate to move the shifter up and down untill you see exactly what is going on, then adjust your linkage to suit.

sounds like the parking pawl in the transmission or the manual shift valve is sticking or the manual linkage in the trans is bent. youll have to have a technician drop the trans pan and observe these parts with an assistant shifting the lever in the car back and forth. If the PRNDL light for park is not lit, then the vehicle is not completely in park. You can start and vehicle with the lever in NEUTRAL to get you anywhere.

Either your not pressing the brake hard enough to activate the park lockout actuator. Or the park lockout actuator is bad or disconnected. It also could be the brake pedal switch is bad or disconnected. Just a guess, you did not specify what kind of car you have.
If you are able to physically move the shifter into park, but the car transmission does not go into drive then It could be several other problems: for example: low transmission fluid, clogged transmission filter, or the shifter cable is disconnected or too loose connecting to the transmission, or internal transmission problems.

it sounds like your gearshift cable is broken..if you can jack up vehicle and support it safely,get someone to move shifter and look on driver's side of transmission and see if linkage is moving on trans..linkage is up near top of trans..i have seen this problem before

Sounds like a shifter problem. If the shifter is not completely in the park position it will not let the switch to be turned off. One thing to try is disconnect the shifter cable from the transmission and see ir the shifter will then move farther into the park position to allow the key to come out. Something is probably not allowing the lever to fully go into park not allowing the switch to move into the off position

I had the same problem. My backup lights wouldn't come on in when I put the auto. trans. shifter into the Reverse position. They WOULD come on briefly as I moved the shifter from Park position into Reverse, but would go off again when the shifter reached the Reverse detent. I got the solution from the Haynes service manual, in which the relevant switch is referred to as something like the neutral safety switch. Check on top of the steering column close to the firewall. Set the parking brake, then move the auto. trans. shifter into Neutral position. Get under the dash and rotate the neutral safety switch clockwise as far as it will go. Then move the shifter into the Park position, and your switch should be set. If the backup lights don't come on now when the shifter is put into Reverse position with the ignition switch 'on', there may be another problem.