03' P5 Automatic shifter is sticking....

[newbie_driver]

I'm a newbie and I would like to resurrect this thread because I'm having the exact same problem as the OP. I own a 03 Mazda Protege, bought used about a month ago with 71k miles on it. So far I've driven 800miles without any real problem. Then a few days ago I started to notice that when I tried to shift back to Park from Drive the shifter would be stuck at Neutral and wouldn't move further. I had to get it back to Drive and try to shift it back to Park. The 2nd attempt worked every time. There's no button on the shifter. It is interesting since it doesn't happen all the time but only every once in a while. I know very little about cars and don't wanna mess with it. So I'm just wondering if the OP could tell us what the problem was with his car and if it cost a lot to fix. Thank you!

This is how it looks like and what I meant is the shifter would be stuck at N and wouldn't move further to the right.

 

[pkane]

The original poster has not been on the board in years (2008), I would suggest sending a private message in case they get an sent in an email message too.