when i pressed the shift lock (wanted to make sure it was working), the button you press to take the car out of gear has gone all the way in and wont pop back out.

tried turning the car on, pressing brake multiple times, turning the steering wheel, disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes, nothing.

i had just come back from the store and the car was working perfectly.

what did i screw up by pressing the shift lock button? how can i correct this?

 

It's not mechanically supposed to stay down, your only supposed to push it down to move the shifter and then it's supposed to pop back up. It's probably dirty/dusty/sticky and just got caught down. Try a needle nose pliers or something to pull it back up.

 

i can pull it back out with my fingers, but as soon as i let go, it goes back down and stays down.

 

fixed it. took apart that part of the dash, it was really gummed up down there. cleaned it out, it popped back into place and the car now goes into drive

 

YAY! Mine's really sticky too like that. On my wagon I'm rebuilding all the switches are like that, I think the PO took a 2 liter bottle of soda and just poured it over everything.