When I had the truck at the dealer for some recall stuff they told me my transmission switch was on its way out and that's why it has been hard to get into each gear. They didn't have the part in stock and I didn't have time to leave it so I didn't get it done. Fast forward to today. I had some trouble getting the truck all the way into park to the point where the engine wouldnt crank and I had to move the gear shift all the way over and all the way back and then it would it start. Any idea what this "switch" is or a part number for it and if it's relatively easy to fix? The dealer wanted $300 to replace it.

 

They probably mean the Transmission Range Sensor (TRS.) It's located on the driver's side of the transmission. It's the part with the wiring harness attached. It is REALLY easy to change.

 

Thanks mark. At least now I have something to search for. Before I was googling transmission switch and I couldn't find anything.

 

Would the TRS make the individual gear positions feel more solid? When I shift into reverse it needs to be in a very specific spot for reverse to engage. And obviously park is starting to behave the same way since it won't allow me to start the engine occasionally.

 

Gear Shift Selector Adjustment & How To Center The Needle

Stewart

 

It could also be two loose bolts in the shift linkage. They are at the bottom of the steering column. Lay under the dash looking up the column. There are two #30 Torx head bolts that can loosen and cause all of these issues.

 

Thanks guys. I will be up under the dash checking them out it the morning.

 

There are pictures of the torx bolts Mark is referencing, in the link I posted in my above response.

Stewart

 

yeah I watched the video. Very informative. I just hope if one of my torx 30's wiggled free I am lucky enough to find it like he did. I don't think I have that insulation piece like he had on the ex he was working on.

 

I checked the torx bolts under the dash and they seemed pretty tight. I got under the truck and the TPS looked pretty old (I'm assuming original) so I hit it with some wd40 bc I read it can be a little tricky to remove if the center nut is really corroded. The arm that attaches to that sensor looks like it has some adjustment. Do I need to worry about that if I just take one off and put a new one on? Or is that linkage actually behind the sensor. For the new install it sounds like you put the trans in neutral and line up the shaft on the trans with the hole on the sensor.

 

You don't have to readjust the linkage. Just remove the nut, the arm will come off, then remove the two bolts holding the TRS. Often the TRS will be hard to get off, sometimes it breaks getting it off the trans. Align in neutral and put it back together. It's easy.

 

I think I can put this one to bed. After some procrastination it finally got to the point where it was being a nuisance to start in park and occasionally had to put into neutral to start. I decided to take another look at the 2 T30 torx bolts and sure enough one was loose. So after a trip to the hardware store because I managed to lose my T30 bit I removed them one at a time and put some locktite on the threads and tightened them back up. Gear shifter has never felt better. Thanks for all the help guys, and to think the dealer was going to replace my TPS for $300 and I would assume/hope tighten the bolts to fix the real problem.