Shift Lock Messed Up

Searched and found some info on the 7G's, and I assume it's similar to the 8G's, but I have a few issues.

1) The button on the shifting knob won't depress fully, however;
2) I'm able to shift between all gears, even neutral & Reverse without pushing the button in on the knob (which worries me as twice the knob has been bumped from Park to neutral or reverse and car drifts on its own)

3) There appears to be a poppet that SHOULD retract when I apply the brake and allow the button on the shifting knob to depress. That poppet does not retract completely and I think that is what is keeping the button from depressing BUT how am I able to shift between gears when the button won't depress fully?

Any help is appreciated as far as where to look, I can post pics if needed.


Thanks

Think I found the issue(s)......all kind of plastic broken inside the shifting mechanism.....not even sure how to go about repairing this

aside from the piece completely broken off, there is a deep crack that allows the whole mechanism to "twist" and basically allow the gears to change without the need of the knob being depressed. dont think super glue is gonna hold this, lol

this pic shows the completely missing plastic "bridge" (I do have the piece, could attempt to super glue/gorilla glue)
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psxw1lcqqa.jpg

this pic shows the crack
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psid10q5qm.jpg

not sure if this white roller is missing anything? it seemed like there was black plastic covering it, could be wrong
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psngmgfyg9.jpg

this is the metal poppet I spoke about in OP, it doesn't depress fully when I press the brake in
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...pshhy08kbw.jpg

Head to your local yard and remove the shifter assembly as one piece and replace it. If problem persists replace the cable that runs from the brake pedal to the shifter assembly. I'm suggesting the shifter first since it's already broken, and hopefully it fixes the problem.

i second that. i was gonna chime in how the auto shifter assembly works but i havent had an automatic galant in a long time. it may be whatever that safety cable is attach to may be the issue.

Thanks for the replies, fellas!

For the sake of following this thread through to help other users who might encounter this issue, I'm pretty sure I found out what happened here.

This contraption here, identified in our service manual as a "spring detent" is very likely the culprit;
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...pshzz1fuus.jpg

That white roller SHOULD have an additional black roller overtop it. Somehow, I lost that black roller, and the white roller alone "sticks" into the gear positions too firmly. I recall really having to use all my might to get the car into Drive from the Park/Neutral/Reverse positions and I'm certain thats when I busted the other plastic pieces within the shifting mechanism.
I gorilla glued the pieces back together yesterday and, surprisingly, they held very very strong BUT without that additional roller overtop the "detent spring" I had the same issue as before, couldn't get the shift knob to go to Drive. When I forced it a bit, sure enough, the plastic bridge piece broke out again allowing me to shift where ever I want, basically renders the shift knob button useless.

Take a look at this shift assembly I'm about to buy off ebay, you can see the additional black roller I'm talking about on the "spring detent"
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psjscgrgug.jpg

Get yourself a full assembly. That ebay assembly is missing few things.

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

Hello, my 02 galant was having the same problem to after reading this I went to the junkyard and got an assembly. I replaced mine and now it works great. I inspected my old one thoroughly but could not find any difference between the one that I got from the junkyard. Even my spring detent was in tact. So I'm wondering - it appears that everything is mechanical on the assembly so what could have gone wrong with mine when like I said I inspected it and everything looked exactly the same.