Shift's into park, but doesn't turn off?

[Ringo]

We've had a strange issue going on for awhile where we shift into park and press the power button, but it still says "shift into park" on the dash. It used to work sometimes, but now it never seems to work so our car is always technically "on". Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I'd imagine one switch is triggered, but a second isn't getting triggered?

 

[Kermit]

Some of the Gen 2 Volts had a faulty switch in the shifter that had the same symptoms and required replacement. Someone tracked down the actual switch part number and showed how to replace it. Chevy actually changed the TSB from changing the shifter assembly to just plugging in some sort of bypass wiring harness. I have not heard of it on a Spark EV though. "Shift to park" when driving or doing anything else besides parking on the Gen 2 volts is a precaution and if anything is wrong with the battery or components it will say shift to park and not let you drive the car at all. We experienced this when the BECM went out in our car but it was covered by a TSB and was under warranty.

 

[Ringo]

Interesting! It really seems like a switch. I'm very capable of fixing it myself if I know what to fix. If you have any more info on that volt switch I'd appreciate it. Otherwise I guess I'll dig deeper.

 

[Infinion]

https://imgur.com/a/PXSWDo0

Give it a shot. I do recommend grabbing yourself a service manual, very useful when it comes to maintaining the spark yourself, and very easy to do so when you can buy new OEM parts e-commerce style from places like gmpartswarehouse.com and many others.

 

[Kermit]

This is a google doc write up that someone did on just the switch:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-D6ZMP8Mv5RoheC4rZHVre0xn9oUstYTRhob7s461hk/edit

This is a video of a guy showing the procedure of swapping the shifter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UVfQCtrwWc