Auto Trans Shift Lever Blues

Past couple of days, the auto trans shift lever does not move smoothly as it used to.
At times, from reverse it doesn't want to move back into park & feels like something is dragging or stuck in there.
Is there a way to take off the cover to look if something fell into small opening near the lever?
Do other A/T owners feel any drag in shifting?
FWIW, the truck has 30k & I do not shift the linkage until it is stopped! My BF said that is the reason this happens???
Oh, and I want to look before taking it to the dealer so they won't hit me with a huge bill if its my earring or part of Simon's treats or something stupid like that stuck in there.
Thank you

 

You should be able to take the whole console apart. I had a Pontiac Sunbird in high school that I had to remove the entire dash, center console, and seat to clean 12 years worth of shit out. The seats slid smoother, the shifter liked the cleaning and grease, and everything fit together better when I was done.

Worth at least trying to take apart some of it to make sure it's nothing small or silly.

 

i have the same issue. Feels like the brake switch is floating around in there. i can hear it.

 

I haven't taken it apart in a while, but I'm pretty sure that you the piece around the shifter just snaps in an out. Screw the shifter knob off, grab on to the plastic around it, and pull straight up. Now that I am thinking about it you may have to pull the cup holders out first. Which is also just snapped in. Hope this helps, somebody else will chime in with the proper procedure if this isn't it.