Can I Put My Car in Neutral Without Starting It

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Riddle me this... Shifting to Neutral without starting the car.

• Thread author KevinJ
• Start date May 25, 2017

• Tags

  automatic transmission neutral

• #1

337

69

28

Ohio

Buick Ownership

2013 Verano Premium (2.0T, AT)

Ok Guys,

As a disclaimer, this is my first keyless ignition vehicle and I'm still training myself to not pull out my keys when I walk up to the car.

Today, I wanted to put the car into Neutral without starting it in order to move it back a few inches in my garage.

Note: I have a 2013, 2.0T, Automatic Trans.

Key Fob is laying in the cup holder.
First Try: Foot on brake, try to shift transmission lever out of Park. No Joy...
Second Try: Push start button without having foot on brake(putting car into "Accessory Mode"), put foot on brake and try to shift out of Park. No Joy...

Go to Owners Manual...
Can find nothing about shifting to Neutral in a key less ignition vehicle.
However, it does say the vehicle can be started with the transmission in Park or Neutral.
Which indicates that you should be able to get into Neutral without starting the car. (maybe...)
Yeah... (Like the Owners Manual is always correct.)

I know there must be a way to do this.
Otherwise how could you move the vehicle if it had a dead battery or it just wouldn't start and it needed to be moved to be jumped started or towed.

Any help out there?

Last edited: May 25, 2017

• Thread author
• #2

337

69

28

Ohio

Buick Ownership

2013 Verano Premium (2.0T, AT)

More Information:

2013 Owners Manual, Section 9-17 (Page 201 in PDF):

The vehicle has an electronic key less ignition with push button start.
Pressing the button cycles it through three modes: ACC/ACCESSORY, ON/RUN/START, and Stopping the Engine/OFF..
.
.
To shift out of P (Park), the vehicle must be in ON/RUN and the brake pedal must be applied.

So I've been experimenting in my 2013.

With foot off the Brake.
Press the Start button, car goes into Accessory Mode(power to the DIC, radio, etc. without the engine running.)
Press the Start button again and car goes into OFF Mode. No Power on to anything. Normal Car Off Mode.

With foot still off the Brake.
Press the Start Button again to go back into Accessory Mode.
Apply the Brake.
Press the Start Button again, and the Engine starts.

So the question is: Is it possible to get the car into "ON" mode without starting the engine?

I also found this in the manual:

Section 9-22 (Page 206 in PDF).

Shifting out of Park
Automatic Transmission Shift Lock

The vehicle has an automatic transmission shift lock control system.
The shift lock control system is designed to:
. Prevent ignition key removal unless the shift lever is in P (Park).
. Prevent movement of the shift lever out of P (Park), unless the
ignition is in ON/RUN and the brake pedal is applied.

The shift lock is always functional except in the case of an uncharged or low voltage (less than 9volt) battery.
If the vehicle has an uncharged battery or a battery with low voltage, try charging or jump starting the battery.

So does this mean that with a dead/low battery the Automatic Shift Lock Disengages?

And if there is a manual override for the Automatic Shift Lock, I haven't found it in the owners manual or in the car.

• #3

113

2

18

Flint, MI

Buick Ownership

'11 Buick LaCrosse CXL

I was just perusing your forum (I have a LaCrosse), and can tell you that after a certain year, all GM vehicles have a tranny interlock, and cannot be moved out of gear unless the battery is good.

I replaced an alternator on an '11 Terrain. Needed to push it into the garage. No-go without the battery.

• Thread author
• #4

337

69

28

Ohio

Buick Ownership

2013 Verano Premium (2.0T, AT)

I was just perusing your forum (I have a LaCrosse), and can tell you that after a certain year, all GM vehicles have a tranny interlock, and cannot be moved out of gear unless the battery is good.

I replaced an alternator on an '11 Terrain. Needed to push it into the garage. No-go without the battery.

Yes, and I agree without a good battery your not going to move that shift lever out of Park.
But what if you have a good battery and all you want to do is put the car in Neutral without turning on the engine?

I'm beginning to hate these new cars where everything is electronic.
Maybe I should have bought a manual transmission....

______________________________

Last edited: May 30, 2017

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• Thread author
• #5

337

69

28

Ohio

Buick Ownership

2013 Verano Premium (2.0T, AT)

Re-visiting this old thread I had started because I am still annoyed about not being able to shift the car into Neutral without the engine running.

Found this on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OlCsrEIoF8

So yes, there is a "shift lock override/release".
You just have to remove some parts to get to it.

At one time, some GM cars had a little "access port" in the shifter gate cover to get to this override.
Somewhere along the line a "safety bureaucrat" or an "engineer" must have decided to take it away.

I personally don't see why the Automatic Transmission vehicles require the engine running to shift out of Park.
You can obviously shift "out of gear" with a Manual Transmission without having the engine running....

Last edited: Mar 30, 2018

• #6

8,034

1,453

113

Buick Ownership

Regal GS 2017

I just tried the same thing on a 2017 Regal. Without the engine running, no matter what combination you use, the shifter will not come out of park.

• #7

90

15

8

Watchung, NJ

Buick Ownership

2019 Buick Regal TourX ETM, DC1, S&S

Pretty sure I knew the answer to this, had to make sure on my own car before posting. You absolutely CAN shift out of park with the engine off, did it not 5 minutes ago in my '13 Regal GS A/T

Step 1. foot off brake press start button to put car in "ACC" mode
Step 2. foot still off brake press down and HOLD start button for 5-10 seconds. Vehicle will change from "ACC" mode to "RUN" mode with engine off (just ignore all the crazy dash lights that show up due to the engine being off
Step 3. Foot on brake and shift away to you heart's content shifter will move as expected.

You may be able to skip step one by holding start button right away with foot off brake, not sure about that though

• Thread author
• #8

337

69

28

Ohio

Buick Ownership

2013 Verano Premium (2.0T, AT)

Pretty sure I knew the answer to this, had to make sure on my own car before posting. You absolutely CAN shift out of park with the engine off, did it not 5 minutes ago in my '13 Regal GS A/T

Step 1. foot off brake press start button to put car in "ACC" mode
Step 2. foot still off brake press down and HOLD start button for 5-10 seconds. Vehicle will change from "ACC" mode to "RUN" mode with engine off (just ignore all the crazy dash lights that show up due to the engine being off
Step 3. Foot on brake and shift away to you heart's content shifter will move as expected.

You may be able to skip step one by holding start button right away with foot off brake, not sure about that though

YES!!!!!!!! Finally, an answer that works!!

HUGE THANKS going out to Monti182.

Why would GM not put this into the Owners Manual???!!! Aaaarghhh!!

For my '13 Verano, you DO NOT press and release the Start Button first to put it into "Accessory" mode.
Just press and hold the Start Button, WITHOUT stepping on the brake.
The rest is as Monti182 explained.

Note... This would most likely not work if you have a completely dead battery.
If you have no electrical power at all and need to get the vehicle into "Neutral".
You could probably hook up an alternate power source to the battery cables to get power to the Dash and Starter Button..
Or you could do the "manual" process explained in the YouTube video link found early in this thread.

______________________________

• #9

1

0

0

Buick Ownership

2014 Buick LaCrosse premium ii

YES!!!!!!!! Finally, an answer that works!!

HUGE THANKS going out to Monti182.

Why would GM not put this into the Owners Manual???!!! Aaaarghhh!!

For my '13 Verano, you DO NOT press and release the Start Button first to put it into "Accessory" mode.
Just press and hold the Start Button, WITHOUT stepping on the brake.
The rest is as Monti182 explained.

Note... This would most likely not work if you have a completely dead battery.
If you have no electrical power at all and need to get the vehicle into "Neutral".
You could probably hook up an alternate power source to the battery cables to get power to the Dash and Starter Button..
Or you could do the "manual" process explained in the YouTube video link found early in this thread.

Same

• #10

G-421235

YES!!!!!!!! Finally, an answer that works!!

HUGE THANKS going out to Monti182.

Why would GM not put this into the Owners Manual???!!! Aaaarghhh!!

For my '13 Verano, you DO NOT press and release the Start Button first to put it into "Accessory" mode.
Just press and hold the Start Button, WITHOUT stepping on the brake.
The rest is as Monti182 explained.

Note... This would most likely not work if you have a completely dead battery.
If you have no electrical power at all and need to get the vehicle into "Neutral".
You could probably hook up an alternate power source to the battery cables to get power to the Dash and Starter Button..
Or you could do the "manual" process explained in the YouTube video link found early in this thread.

Amazing insight and saved me a ton of time. Thank you.

• #11

G-312817

Pretty sure I knew the answer to this, had to make sure on my own car before posting. You absolutely CAN shift out of park with the engine off, did it not 5 minutes ago in my '13 Regal GS A/T

Step 1. foot off brake press start button to put car in "ACC" mode
Step 2. foot still off brake press down and HOLD start button for 5-10 seconds. Vehicle will change from "ACC" mode to "RUN" mode with engine off (just ignore all the crazy dash lights that show up due to the engine being off
Step 3. Foot on brake and shift away to you heart's content shifter will move as expected.

You may be able to skip step one by holding start button right away with foot off brake, not sure about that though

Hey that worked. Thank you !

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Can I Put My Car in Neutral Without Starting It

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