ROOM fuse keeps popping, can't shift out of park.

[billfrank85]

The other day, I got into my 91 Festiva (auto) and started it...tried to shift out of park, shifter wouldn't budge. I pressed down on the brake pedal a little harder, immediately lost all brake pressure and found out I popped a hole in the brake line. That was taken care of, and now I still can't shift out of park. Upon inspection of the fuses, I found my ROOM fuse was blown...but even with the key out of the ignition, the second another fuse is put in, it immediately sparks and blows it. I also noticed that, coincidentally enough, my rear driver's side brake light is out. Right now I'm trying to figure out of I have a short somewhere or not. I have no radio installed, but the wiring for it is hanging out and setup in the factory manner (bundled into plugs and whatnot). I did, however, hook the stock radio up and noticed that the lights on it would always stay on even if the car was off/keys out of the ignition, but it would never actually power on. Are all of these related? It seems to me I just had two or three things go wrong at the exact same time...any direction on this would be most helpful, I'm going to be sitting in the car all night with a flash light until I can figure out what's going on.

[FestYboy]

sounds like a dead short to ground in the harness... look for chaffing. also sounds like the radio has a short to power from the memory hot wire (batt wire). recomend new radio...

[apintonut]

every time a brake light goes out on my f250 it pops the fuse and dose the same thing

[jtugfestiva]

it happened to me check your wiring for your radio its grounding out somewhere!! maybe touching ground or the power wire is hitting ground. popping that fuse prevents the neutral safety switch to disengage.

[billfrank85]

I finally got my gear shifter out of park. I did this by pushing a fuse in as I tried shifting, even though it sparked, it disengaged the shift lock long enough for me to unplug it and then remove the fuse. Since I'm selling the car soon, would it be okay to drive around with no ROOM fuse?

[crazyrog17]

Isn't there a textured 'button' kind of thing next to the gear shift selector? If you pull down on that with your thumb, you should be able to shift without the room fuse/actuator. Figure out what's up with that fuse though. I suspect the radio wiring, but look at the dome light and other things too.

[billfrank85]

Yeah the over-ride...it didn't work either, but regardless, I'm glad I figured it out.

[crazyrog17]

So the shift lock actuator is stuck in the open position, I assume?

[lessersivad]

Not a fix for the wiring but possible fix for the "locked in park" problem.

Take off the shifter cover, to the right you should see a wiring harness plug. Diconnect the plug that goes to the shifter and that may disengage the "safety" lock so the shifter can be moved.

Be forwarned, this will also allow the shifter to be taken out of the "park" position with the key out and no application of the brake pedal.

Hope this helps.