Scotty, my daughter has a 2009 Hyundai Sante Fe v6 4x4. Her battery died recently and had it jump started. She drove it home and parked it behind our car. We had to move it out of the way to get our other cars to buy a new battery. In order to do that, we released the tranmission with the unlock button and pushed it out of the way. Replaced the battery and now the car won't go back into park or start in nuetral. We replaced the nuetral switch under the battery and still nothing. The car will go into neutral because had it towed to a dealership who has had it for 10 days and they think the tranmission is seized up and maybe the engine. Question. No issues with the trans up to this point or engine. What could be wrong with it? Thanks {black}:fighting:
Clarification: Mileage?
The dealership is lying to you. Have it towed to an honest, independent mechanic for diagnosis.
Jump starting may have damaged electronics if done using cables and another vehicle. As @doc says, have it taken to a good independent mechanic for evaluation. The stealership wants you to trade it and buy a new vehicle from them by quoting you a repair job that costs more than yours is worth.
Those SantaFe's of that era had a weird shift interlock. If certain conditions were not met the shift handle was locked and could not be moved into park. I don't think towing in neutral would cause the transmission to seize. The starter solenoid lever would break so the starter would not engage the flywheel. You could hear the starter motor free wheeling but no engine rotation. Sounds to me you should get that car out of there. A dead battery should not break the transmission.
How do they know the training's bad if they can't start the engine?
Time to have it towed to a transmission specialist for a second opinion.
