My car was sitting for about 1.5 weeks and now all of a sudden its hard to move the shifter between gears. Its an automatic. I have to put it in neutral to start it. It wont start in park. I called hyundai and they said its probally the linkage and that i should grease it, but i dont know how to do this. Can anyone help me? Some one told me to remove the plastic box that the air filter fits into, so i did that but im not sure what im suppose to grease. .... So i seen the cable that moves when the car is shifted i sprayed that with wd-40 as best i could to see if it would help but it did not.

 

Did you get this resolved. My 2003 is doing the same thing.
Dave.

 

Hi- I have same problem on a 04 Santa Fe. Did you fix your problem and what was it? It won't start in park, have to put in N to start. Shifter is really stiff.

Thanks

 

I don't have the car anymore, my daughter had an accident and I sold it. It was a VERY safe car. Someone pulled in front of her with an older compact Toyota and she T-boned them. $3,500.00 worth of damage, but drove it home; the Toyota wasn't so lucky, it was totaled.
Anywhoooooo, I removed the airbox and sprayed some WD 40 into the cable and worked it back and forth a bunch of times. Also, where the shift cable attaches to the top of the transmission, the bolt securing the cable housing was loose and needed to be tightened. The last thing is the connector on the arm (spindle), I remember taking that off and getting the surface rust/corrosion off with a piece of emory cloth and lubricating the shaft. I can't find the diagram that I had, but if you want to send me a few close up pictures with the airbox off, I can direct you on what to do. It really is not that hard to do.
My email is jafouna1@verizon.net.
Dave.

 

Thanks Fullmoon for the feedback. Car won't crank in park but if I depress brake and shift to N it starts fine and drives okay. Shifter is really stiff (hard) to move between gears. Smells like cable only thing it was fine the day before, nothing gradual. Will pull air hose and battery this weekend and check out cable linkage, thanks again.

2004 Santa Fe