My girlfriend's '02 escort zx2 won't go in gear. It's an automatic. I checked the fluid and it seems ok. I don't know what to do about it. Any suggestion?

more info...

The shifter won't physically move?

The shifter shifts but the gear won't engage?

Can you get any gears to engage? Reverse?

Did you let the car/transmission warm up to see if it is any better?

It stays in Park. It won't physically move. I did let the car warm up before I tried and no better.

I bought a standard for just such reasons. Half the money we put into cars goes into fixing transmissions.

However, there is probably a button that you have to depress to get the car out of park, right? Does this feel like it is actually doing anything?

The button's there to prevent someone shifting out of park without adult sized hands and to avoid shifting from a forward gear to a reverse gear by accident.

I read on some other forum that these are mostly plastic and might be worn out.

If you are handy, carefully start removing the coverings over the shifter and try to figure out how the button works. Look for worn out parts or where a part might exist that is wearing out.

Guys behind parts counters are pretty handy. Like guys on forums they like to share knowedge (unlike guys on forums they likely don't hope to get any knowledge back at a later date for a problem of their own) But parts guys are often bored and if you show up in person you'll probably find out what it is and then you can decide whether to fix it yourself.

yes the button works fine it seems like it is engaging, but just can't get out of gear.

You could give the service manager of the local ford dealer a call.

once I had my day time running lights stay on and I was worried about losing the battery. I called and was told exactly where to pull the wiring harness off.

Perhaps they will give you a tip on where to look to see whether some cable is broken.

Still doesn't sound like a transmission problem to me. Sounds mechanical. But I haven't got the experience to diagnose.

Hope you get some good advice.

Did you put your foot on the brake pedal???