Click/Clunk when shifting into park

Have an '11 auto with about 25k miles. Have not done any tranny maintenance yet, but am religious about oil changes.

Noticed that sometimes when I shift into park I hear a click/clunk from the shifter. I can also see the shifter move slightly as it is making this noise.

My normal procedure for parking (usually on flat ground): come to a stop, set parking brake while foot is still on main brake, put shifter into neutral for a second until the engine goes into neutral, then put shifter into park, at this time I hear the click/clunk, then release foot from main brake.

Also noticed that sometimes when going to leave, when shifting out of park, it sometimes is more difficult to get the tranny out of park. Not really difficult, but not as easy and smooth as I would like.

Anybody have this happen to them? Any thoughts?

 

Maybe the gears are not lining up properly when shifting to park?

 

95% sure what your hearing is the parking pawl slipping into place it's normal. Also when shifting out of park if the parking pawl has a load on it you will fill resistance when shifting out of park this is normal. The pawl is what locks the tranny from spinning when in park.

 

Thanks Tripps, makes sense. Hopefully this is not going to cause issues down the road.

 

No issues that I see it's just how auto's are made. I will say this if you park on a steep hill set the parking brake before you place the truck in park. It's just easier on the parking pawl with the brakes holding the bulk of the load.

 

I’m my 3rd gen, the cause of the clank when putting it into park or from park was due to the auto door lock feature when in park or leaving park.