Hi,

Wow. I'm fixing my bronco again.

At the moment my '90 bronco is stuck in park. The steering wheel is not locked. This situation developed after I removed the ignition switch to diagnose a lack of a start position in my key cylinder. I had to remove the column shroud and the bolts on the bracket holding the steering column up so that it could drop a little, and I could get to the the bolts and connector for the ignition switch. I fiddled with the ignition rod to see if it was binding up; not sure yet what the situation is there. I reattached the column bracket, and left the switch dangling. The switch seems to be okay. I can start the engine now by manipulating the ignition switch with a screwdriver. I put the key cylinder back in, but I'm still stuck in park.

Some questions:

What could I have done to damage my shifting ability, and is the ignition rod somehow involved with the shifter? Could my tinkering have disabled the shifter? The ignition rod is loose at the ignition switch; would this cause a problem? BTW, I have a automatic no-tilt column. My bronco is a '90, EB, 5.8, E40D.

Cheers,
Tim

 

Check connection to MLPS from the column. The MLPS connection triggers the release for the parking pawl. I'm not certain that there was a brake pedal interlock as far back as 1990 but that can be an issue as well.

 

From your post, I take it the wires from the mlps connector run down out of the steering column in one of the bundles of wires; is that correct?

One bundle goes to the ignition switch, the other bundle is of smaller wires...I'm assuming the mlps wire would be in that bundle? I have a photo I can post of the wires running out of the column...what color am I looking for?

 

I'd bet it's something with the ignition rod. When it wasn't working, you couldn't pull it out of park unless the key was on, correct?
If you've been fidgeting with the rod, it's safe to assume that you've got something out of whack and it's just letting you pull it out of park.

And I'm not sure where you're going with the MLPS and reverse. There's nothing electrical with reverse in an E4OD, it's just a mechanical set up. You pull the handle which pushes/pulls the shift lever which in return pushes/pulls the rod that disengages or engages the park pawl.

And there's no brake pedal interlock on a '90, or so I would think not because my '92, I can have the key switched to the on position and put it in whatever gear I want without hitting any pedal.

 

88LX5.0H:

I'm afraid I don't quite follow your first sentence...I can't get the vehicle out of park right now, which, I suppose, happened when I returned home and put it in park after having the key malfunction. Before that, the shifter worked normally.

In respect to the MLPS, I was following the suggestion of greystreak, though at this point I think it's more likely to be a mechanical problem.

Thanks for the tip on the brake interlock; I guess I don't have to worry about that.

Gonna get a wheel puller in a couple days and find out for sure.

 

What I was saying was that you can't just hop in your truck and pull it out of park without the key. Your key has to be in the ON position to unlock the column so you can steer and pull the trans out of park, yes?

It's most likely something mechanical in the column that isn't unlocking the shift handle.