Hey guys I am fairly new to FTE I didn't know there was a transmission forum the other forum groups I've belonged to in the past didn't have so many specific areas I should have done a little better searching so I could place this question in the right spot I will do better in the future once again thanks for the help next time I will ask the questions in the right section

 

Don't worry about it. We cover transmission questions here all the time.

FTE also has an audio forum but we cover radio's and installs here all the time too.

Feel free to post in the trans forum if you want, but don't hesitate to post here too. Or if you have a 7.3L PSD Ex, over in the 7.3L PSD forum. We cover transmission tech there too...a lot.

Stewart

 

While on the subject of sloppy shifter levers, here's one that happened last week to my 6.0ls 5R110. Stopped in a parking spot with a slight uphill pitch. Shifted to P and it felt like the lever was completely disconnected. Never had a hint of a problem like this beforehand. Let off the brake slightly, and it rolled backwards. Tried to start the engine, and nothing. I knew it wasn't in Park. Set the e brake, looked underneath, and found the selector cable retainer pulled from the bracket. I manually engaged park at the xmsn, and the retainer loosely snapped back in. Truck started, and was able to move it. Put to P after moving it, and same events occurred.

The little retainer tabs have given up. Until a perm fix could be done, a couple of SS zip ties held it so tight that it felt like brand new again. It'll get you going again in a pinch.

 

Ok so got it all opened up and it seems like everything is good inside except this long rod that comes off the "rooster comb" and runs to the rear of the trans there is a spring on the end and when you put it in park that spring compresses and almost launches it out of P and in to R any suggestions on what to do about this?





Can yall tell I don't know much about transmission lol

 

Hey all so the truck is fixed!

I talked with my old man who is an FSE for Ford Motor Co (I try not to ask him to often something about me feeling like I don't NEED him to fix my truck lol) and he told me based of what I've described and what all I've done so far that my shift cable was the issue there is supposed to be spring weight on that rod when in park he called it the park switch something or other I don't really remember but anyhoo my local ford stealership just so happened to have a cable in stock so I replaced it per my pops instructions adjusted it all up put it all back together and wow it shifts like brand new! It should I've only replaced everything outside the trans that has anything to do with gear shifter ha ha took it for a drive drove it smooth drove it hard forced gear shifts let it shift on its own she drives great only issue is I think I might have overfilled the trans by half qt give or take not to worried about it or should I be?

So once again thanks to all who chimed in another job fixed thanks to the pros at FTE!!!
And my dad😒

 

Wow, I don't check this forum too often, but I could have saved you some work.
The detent mechanism is primarily in the shift position sensor on the outside of the transmission. Mine was very sloppy "gooey" feeling, not sure what gear was what and would not get completely in Park or let the truck start. After I tightened the torx bolts and disconnected the cable from the trans, I found that was all ok. But I could barely move the lever on the trans. Pulled the position sensor off and found the transmission lever moved fine. The position sensor has the detents. It is available through Amazon and takes about 15 minutes to replace and adjust.

 

Wow, I could have saved you some typing if you had checked with me before posting your incorrect information.

There are no detente in the TRS. The TRS can get corroded and cause the stiff feeling, but that doesn't mean the detents have moved from inside the transmission to the sensor.

 

With better recollection now, I guess you are correct about the detents. But that doesn't change the reality that I fixed my sloppy shifter problem without opening the transmission. All of the restriction and misalignment of the shifter was attributed to the position sensor. That's not misinformation.

 

Actually it is. In one sentence, you identified the actual solution to the problem ("I tightened the torx bolts") then proceeded to misidentify what actually fixed it.

The sensor CANNOT cause a "sloppy shifter" although it can cause shifter effort to be greatly increased if it's gummed up inside. You likely had both symptoms but attributed the repair to the wrong service action.

 

This debate is not worth it, but tightening the torx bolts solved nothing. The gummed up sensor caused the sense of no detents (ie sloppy shifting). It did not cause much more effort to shift other than aligning the position to the gear I wanted.

Once removing the sensor, it was clear the problem was that part and there was no need to open the transmission nor replace the shifter cable.

You can assume whatever you want, but in my 40 years of repair I'm pretty sure I know how to troubleshoot and eliminate issues. I was the only person who was there working on this and working from the dashboard down the bad part was not inside the transmission.

My message to the forum was/is simply, don't jump to such severe conclusions like invasive surgery (opening the transmission) before picking the low hanging fruit.

I'll sign off now and let you all be armchair quarterbacks on your own. Apparently some of you are not interested in other points of view.

 

Well, glad you found it, but what you're describing as "sloppy shifting (shifter)" (not so common) is different from a "sloppy shifter (lever)" which moves around without it moving the cable (common, loose bolts).

So, different resolutions for different imprecisely described symptoms.

Hey, I've been fixing stuff for forty years also, so you're not alone there.

 

Less of a debate, more of getting correct info out there for the different problems.

You had similar symptoms, but very possibly different problems, so what worked for you may not apply to others.

Wrong, it tightened up your shift lever.

If you don't believe me, go loosen them and leave it that way, you'll see what I'm talking about. (Not sarcasm, literally just trying to help you see the fact that tightening the torx can solve a sloppy shifter problem).

Glad you were able to solve your problem.

Mark K doesn't jump to conclusions. His decades working at Ford as a transmission engineer gives him insight that none of us have. He shares the information he has, based on the information posted in a thread. As difficult as it is to try and help people diagnose their problems with their vehicles on a forum, the help given is as good as the information posted. The OP stated what the problem was and Mark gave a solution to that problem.

Mark is far from an armchair quarterback or shade tree mechanic. And we do value different points of view, but if a given solution is absolute and there is only that single way to skin the cat, then other points of views are wrong for the problem listed.

That's not saying the point of view you listed wasn't incorrect for YOUR problem, just saying as you tried to apply it to the OP's problem, it isn't correct.

Stewart

 

And this quote from the original post shows why his problem is different from yours:

He stated the it is effortless to move from P to R. A bad TRS won't make the shift efforts lower.

And since you brought up your 40 years of fixing things, I've been at it for almost 50. And I owned an auto repair shop, too. That will give one a lot of experience in repairing vehicles.