About half the time I try to get the shift lever out of park it sticks. I am guessing it is the brake lock because if I pump the brake pedal a couple times it will usually depress far enough to the the X out of park.

Anyone know how to adjust this?

I also notice that when in park the indicator is pretty far to the right as oppose to directly over the P.

 

If you have to press the pedal far, then it's a good chance your brake lights aren't coming on until the pedal travels that far as well (dangerous for you since you may be slowing down but without the brake lights).

I'd back up to something and use the rear view to see how far you have to press the pedal. You may just need the brake pedal switch adjusted.

 

Oh... Never considered that... So that switch also controls the shift lever? I assumed it was a mechanical lock of some sort on the shift lever.

 

Funny story - learned this in my Expedition.

Ford designed the brake switch wire to go around the back of the pedal and they made it short. So short that depressing the pedal actually 'stretched' the wire harness.

Over time, the movement and stress causes the wire to separate on the harness side of the brake switch connector.

Wife and I are sitting in a parking lot after having dinner and I can't get it out of Park. I'm thinking that it's the steering wheel putting pressure on the lock - but the wheel was straight. For the life of me I can't figure it out so I call a tow.

The tow driver was a cool guy and said he sees this a lot. Tells me to hit the e-brake and slam the brakes hard and he gets under the truck and disconnects the shift cable at the trans and manually moves the lever to get me into drive. Gets out from under the truck and says I won't have brake lights (DOH...didn't think to check that!) since the switch was bad.

Drove home with the hazards on and using hand signals...next day I got a harness from the pick and pull and spliced it in, giving myself an extra 6" of wire to zip tie out of the way and prevent it from happening in the future.

A few months later, same thing. This time I know what it is, and it turns out the one I pulled from the pick and pull was also stressed and finally broke. I shorted the wires and presto, out of park into drive.

The one switch controls the brake lights and the shift lockout...plus the cruise control cutoff and who knows what else.

 

It is a mechanical lock - but it's triggered by the brake light switch. If the switch is triggering at the right spot, then it could just be a loose wire that sometimes shorts and prevents the switch from telling the lock to disengage, so check how tight the wiring is under there and look close at the connector for any wire strain.

 

Great info and good story. Thanks!