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The day after I had my quick luck fixing the T-L in five minutes flat after getting under the car, my 56 returned the favor and got even with me just as I was about to show her off to visiting in-laws. I pulled her out of the garage and may have made a serious mistake by pushing the Park button as the car was moving ever so slightly to a stop. At that point, no pushbuttons would do anything. Ever so faintly I could hear a circuit breaker cycling every 10-15 seconds, so I suspected something was trying to work electrically, but wouldn't.

After the relatives oh'd and ah'd over the dead Packard and its style, I called the previous owner of 45 years. First question was "Did you use Park instead of Neutral and the emergency brake?" His father, who retired as a Packard dealer mechanic in the Fifties, told him that lots of people ran into issues with Park and the pushbutton cars were the worst because electronically you were up a creek if something went wrong. His father said it was one of the most common problems seen at the dealer, but by trying to move the car, back and forth, you could often rock the parking pawl back to where it belonged. Later, I found a Service Counselor article that said the same thing. Sure enough, some back and forth rocking did the trick, the circuit breaker stopped clicking and all now appears well. The previous owner said that he learned not to use Park (and use Neutral button) and relied on the emergency brake and never had this problem.

My question of more experienced push-button owners, do you shy away from hitting the P because of similar experiences? I can be trained not to, especially if embarrassing experiences like mine reinforce it.

About 17 years with a pushbutton 56. I NEVER use Park; if parked on a slope I supplement the parking brake with a wheel chock. Yet I have friends with even longer experience with pushbutton cars who use Park regularly and have never had a problem. I just don't want to tempt fate.

I've also disabled the "auto park" feature per the TSB instructions.

I was unaware it was a problem on fairly level ground but apparently it was if there happened to be a big load on the parking pawl.

My car has quite the story due to sticking in park. It was originally sold in San Francisco and the story goes after one service call too many, it was traded back to the dealer. The original owners wife kept parking it on a hill and getting it stuck in park. Every time she got it stuck they had to call a tow truck to pull it back slightly to relieve the load. The next owner who bought the car lived on level ground. He drove it a distance of approx 100 miles round trip to and from work for the next 20 years without difficulty.

I bought the car after that and also live on level ground. So far, no problems due to mechanical sticking but I did have a failure of the auto park relay which caused it to "stick" in park. I also revised the wiring to prevent if from automatically going into park but I elected to have it both ways. A toggle switch determines if it is automatic or manual selection into park.

Auto Park. Think about it. In a word that particular feature is ridiculous.
I always use Park. However on steep grades i pull out the emergency brake BEFORE pushing Park button. I disabled the 5 mph pressure sw. And of course eleminated the brainless auto park feature.

According to my study of the wire diagram the auto park feature is NOT overridden by the 5 mph pressure sw.

Quote:

You are correct. If you turned the key off at any speed it would try to go into park. It's kind of funny they thought that was a "safety feature". The original PB announcement and schematics did not have the auto park function but for some reason it was decided to implement and introduce right as production started.

I keep the parking brake adjusted and always pull it out BEFORE pushing PARK. I disabled the auto park feature.
I disabled that on my daily driver back in '62.

I use park all the time and no problems. But that's only 15 years experience on this car, it could change in the future.

DaveB845 -

Sticking in park is something that can occur regardless of whether you have push button or manual select for the Ultramatic. Although the push button system is immune to issues involving external linkage, the condition of the parking gear and pawl and related parts is still in play.

I have a 56 Patrician with manual select that used to get stuck in park (even on seemingly level ground), but now has no park lock at all. However, I have no idea of its prior history; the affected parts could have been damaged under more severe operating conditions under some previous owner.

Then, I have two 56s with push button control: a Patrician, which appears to have previously had the automatic park feature eliminated; and a Caribbean H/T, which retains the automatic park feature, as original.

Neither of these two push button examples has exhibited a problem of getting stuck in park under my ownership. Yet, I can imagine that a prior experience with such a problem might have been grounds for elimination of automatic park feature in the one car (per the confidential bulletin issued no further than Zone offices, STB 56T-25).

Also, my father, who worked as a mechanic in a Packard dealership, purchased a 56 Exec with push button, brand-new, and put nearly 75K on the clock over the course of seven years. He never had a problem with it sticking in park.

I personally like the automatic park feature, but I may someday install some sort of bypass switch on the Carib. While I'd like to restore the feature to the Pat, I want to inspect its parking gear system. However, before I do that, I should repair the lost parking lock on the manual select car (so I know what to look for).

Mind you, the problem of sticking in park is not exclusive to Packard or even that period in automotive history. In fact, Chrysler had problems with their FWD transaxles getting stuck in park, especially in minivans, back in the '80s - typically when parked on a grade.

As such, I try to make it a point to apply the parking brake in ANY vehicle, when parking on a slope.

Perhaps this has been previously covered before, but has there been any movement to establish a sticky category by type/Series of Packard that might otherwise go by the topic "Voices of Experience" or "Learned the Hard Way"?

Such a sticky would take the biggest/best tips for the caring of a Packard, say a 55-56 V-8 and include a Top Ten/Twenty suggestions from experienced owners for a happy relationship with their car. A careful and judicious use/avoidance of Park buttons might be one for the 1956 suggestions. While some controversy might be anticipated (e.g. types of motor oils, radial tires, etc.), I would hope that most would be what more experienced owners say that something has worked well for them. Something like V-8 valve lifter clatter might include the Olds oil pump modification and some overfilling of the pan.

In any event, should a Series-based set of topics be considered, I would hope that they could be pointed to as a resource for what a new-to-Packard owner might have "for their consideration." While common sense issues may be universally applied to other cars of their generation, Packards have some unique features and quirks that could be beneficial to know about so that disasters and disappointments don't detract from the future desirability of these cars.