When it rains it pours

[06 H3]

Hummer has been pissing me off. She sat for a week due to the header drive it a few days and now the battery is completely dead. Cant bitch it's lasted 5 years but what I will bitch about is the stupid thing won't leave park. Soooo that's a problem when another car can't get in the driveway to jump you. Between work and school I will be gone for 13+ hours today. Luckily my dad is working out of home today and offered up his car otherwise I'd be SOL. Now the only way I can get it outta park is to pull the center shifter assembly apart to hit the park release mechanism. Which is dumb!!!!! So I gotta figure out a way to make this work in the future where you can override the park lock in a timely fashion

Then I got motor mounts battery header and pinion preload issue on my d44 that has "professional installed" gears. Atleast when I'm done the truck basically everything has been replaced/rebuilt minus the motor and trans in the past year.

Or I just invest in the worlds longest jumper cables....but still the park lock is a ****in pain being hidden!!!! You should be able to put the key in and move the shifter if the key is in there...

 

[4speedfunk]

Disconnect either driveshaft from either axle. Easier.

 

[08H3]

Dual battery setup? That would solve the issue fairly easy.

 

[derian06]

I had the same problem and just hooked two sets of cables to each other. Although it would be very helpful to figure out a way to manually override it.

Or just buy a new battery and throw it in.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

how about just a battery charger on your car while you're at school?

 

[SedonaBound]

Pull the battery from Dad's car and use it to jump the H3 so you can get it to the parts shop for a battery. Most learn about putting off a new battery the hard way.

 

[abearden]

I had the same problem and just hooked two sets of cables to each other.

how about just a battery charger on your car while you're at school?

Both of these, or a small 12V battery and a lighter plug tail (you can get a pre-made at AutoZone). Just wire it up and pop it in the lighter port. I used that a few times to deal with my wife's car battery dying because for some stupid reason if the battery is dead it locks the key in the ignition when you try. Even worse, when you power it up the doors auto-lock.

 

[Cyouincourt007]

Great ideas posted here so far. You should be able to move the shifter sheesh, i had an infiniti that would do that but it at least had a button that i could use to unlock and put it in neutral etc.

 

[06 H3]

Spoke to the interstate guy who delivers batteries at work and got a hook up one!

While all those work it takes time. In a perfect world it goes into neutral roll out the driveway jump it. No bull**** of taking other batteries in and out. Dual battery might be on the short list now. I just made this post talking about how ridiculous it is to have a vehicle that won't go into neutral when the battery is dead. I also plan on getting another jumper. Had one for years and it took a dump recently. Gotta get another

 

[chaos254]

I always have a jump box in my truck and it only was $70 at costco. Perfect for these types of situations

 

[H3HummerLineX]

It's even worse when your vehicle's dead on the side of the road and you need to have a flatbed pick it up and you can't get it in neutral. Then the guy wants to drag it onto the truck. I did the same thing , tore into the center console to hit the unlock pin. It does kind of suck

 

[Best4x4]

Will have to look at the setup again, but pretty sure absolute worse case you should be able to remove the shifter linkage from the transmission and shift it manually. Also a jump box is a cheap and good investment.

 

[06 H3]

I had one from costco worked great for 3 years then it died but I didn't keep it charged and upkeep it. I will get another.

I agree it's a good investment but it's still no excuse for such a ****ty design!!!! Where is it located? I'm curious how accessible it is

 

[Best4x4]

It's just under the H3 on the left side under the driver seat. I know 06-07's are slightly different vs 08-10's but it's just a linkage connection. Should be able to pop it off and shift it by hand as long as you have the ebrake applied (so you don't run yourself over).

Learned this trick with 03-06 Jeep Wranglers with the 4spd auto..... Linkage would crumble leaving you with no gear selection or it would break at the shifter. Quick crawl under the rig and I just shifted it by hand till I made a Jeep mod that I honestly should sell on Ebay haha!

 

[06 H3]

No I dont wanna do that. I know where that is I am talking about the park release.

 

[Scarsman]

This has me thinking. I think I'm going to look at mine sometime ams see if I can disable the lock. I know mine had an electric switch at the brake pedal that activates the lock on the shifter. If I could disable the lock that would be great.

 

[Best4x4]

Other idea that worked on Land Rover's was having a 7AH 12v battery handy. Then with some small leads connect it to the battery post. Should provide enough juice to allow you to move it out of Park (Worked on Land Rover's).

I prefer the linkage trick myself since it's super easy n fast, and I'm used to doing it on other rigs.

 

[zackcrum]

The park release is on the passenger side of the shift mechanism after you take the console off

 

[06 H3]

Drill a ****in hole through the console for easy access

 

[Best4x4]

Or you could do that :chuck

 

[zackcrum]

Drill a ****in hole through the console for easy access

There you go! Atleast I think that would work. When I ran into that silver h3 this past weekend that had flooded out they had the cluster and column cover out trying to find that switch so they could pull it off the trail

 

[kilroy]

Good point Zach, pop the top off of the console and push the silver lock button in and you can shift into neutral. Alot easier than removing linkages.

 

[4speedfunk]

My wife's 2006 Chrysler 300 has a similar button. You access it by removing the storage box portion of the console, and reaching in with your hand. Basically, you open the lid...grab a Phillips screwdriver and remove a couple screws...lift out the "box"...and the button is right there. Not sure if this method works on the H3...but you might try it before you tear the entire console apart.

I seriously doubt if anyone at GM has enough brains to design-in a feature like this.

 

[zackcrum]

Chris I had a spare minute this morning so I pulled the portion of the console that has the shifter and cup holders in it to take some pictures. The lock release is on the passenger side of the shifter mechanism. Drilling a hole in the console is possible but you will need a ink pen to reach on there to push the lock release unless you want a huge hole for your finger to fit in[emoji13] The worst part about removing this section of the console would be getting to that screw on the front of the shifter with that limited space while the truck is in park. A hex bit and ratchet took care of that though.

The look with the console portion removed

The lock release button

The button pushed in

 

[Best4x4]

BTW the linkage pops off in seconds, it's just held on via a plastic bushing. Pop, shift, and go lol.