stuck in park

can anyone pinpoint the fault on my 1996 disco automatic?

while driving, the ABS light suddenly came on - travelled another couple of miles and parked in supermarket car park for some shopping. Started the disco but wouldn't come out of park.

Called RAC who found brake lights were out, checked all the fuses and relays he could find and all seemed ok.

He shorted out one of the two switches on the brake pedal to make the brake lights come on and that released the shift lever.

now I can't select park when the engine's switched off, which means the key is stuck in the ignition and my brake lights don't work. Any ideas?

The bottom switch has vacum pipe - for cruise control, I think.

Steve

some cars had a mechanical link between the ign switch and the g/box. i dunt know if yours has but as no one else has come up wiff anything better you might like to have a look see. if it has one it may be broken or worn so much that it dint work.

Thanks for your reply Slob. I found out what the problem was, brake light switch packed up, fitted a new switch and everything works fine except the ABS light won't turn off.

Could the ABS ECU need resetting and if so do you know how?

The ABS light could ( not definitely but maybe) be totally unrelated.
Get a digital mulitimeter, find the sensor wiring connectors at each corner ( usualy inside behind some trim) & check resistance on all 4 sensors.
If one is a long way out compared to the others that is the wheel to look at, check for swarf in the reluctor teeth or on the actual sensor before condemning it

Interestingly I am having the same problem, but I cant find the second switch at all. only the vacumn pipe one