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Excursion-gear shifter problem

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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 05:23 PM
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notafraidtotry's Avatar
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Thumbs up Excursion-gear shifter problem

I pulled in to the driveway, put the truck in park, let off the brake and rolled down the driveway. There is a bolt lying on the floor mat.

The shifter is all the way up (should be in park) but the dash panel gauge is between park and reverse. Take the shifter down two notches (should be neutral) and I go forward.

Where in the world does this mystery bolt go and how in the world do I get to where it goes? It looks like I will have to take off some panel but there are lots of wires behind there...do those have to be disconnected to get that face panel off?????

Unemployed, single mom -help please! I don't have money to take the truck some where else. Thanks (Anyone have a diagram they can email so I can see a picture of what the heck I'm supposed to do to fix this?) Thanks again!
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 06:50 PM
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Immortal_Ben
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We need to know a little bit more about your truck in order to help you. Things like year, engine type (gas? diesel?), and such. As Im looking in my repair manual... Im not seeing where a bolt would go. I will keep looking though.

Also, what dimensions are the bolt? I went outside to look at mine and the first thing that comes to mind is the small screw/bolt holding the shift indicator cable in place.
 

Last edited by Immortal_Ben; Feb 28, 2009 at 07:01 PM. Reason: More infoooo
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 07:05 PM
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Smile more information

It's a 2000 Ford Excursion 7.3 L Diesel, Automatic Transmission

As I said, as I parked the truck and moved the shifter to what should have been "park" and we rolled as if we were in Neutral;

The display that shows what gear you are in on the dash panel:

P R N D 2 1

-is between P and R when the shifter is all the way up and if I move the shifter down two notches so that it is on the 'N' I can move forward.

The bolt that was on the floor is not threaded at the very end for about 1/8" then threaded to the top and it is a hex head.

thanks for looking and please let me know what other info I can provide that will help
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 07:15 PM
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Can you guess the diameter of the bolt? How long is it? What color is it?
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 07:29 PM
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About 1" long or so, silver grey color and a little larger diameter than that of a pencil.
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 07:40 PM
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Well I tried taking some pics with my camera phone to post for you to look at, but its very cold outside and I cant seem to take any GOOD pictures of what I think it may be. I do have one pic that might work so I am going to try to post it in a few minutes.

It really sounds to me like the shift indicator cable adjustment wheel has worked its way loose, and if that is the case, it will be a very simple fix. Give me a few minutes to see if I can get that pic up.

Ok so the pic isnt usable. I dont have a camera or scanner where I am currently so hopefully one of the other guys can come up with a pic for you.
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 08:05 PM
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Smile

It's the bolt that connects the shifter to the rod on the outside of the firewall. It's on the steering column. There are two of them and the other one is most likely loose too. Happened to the wife just three weeks ago. Stop by an independant repair shop and they will probably replace it for free.
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 08:09 PM
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Heck, even one of the parts store employees MIGHT put it in for her.
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 08:10 PM
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Am I safe to drive it like this to get to a place? Without park I know I will have to yuse the emergency brake...anything else I should keep in mind? Thanks for all the help!
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 08:35 PM
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happened to me about a month ago. i saw the same torx bolt laying on the floor mat. for some reason, i put it in the ash tray instead of throwing it away. i actually thought that the cable was bad again. i replaced the frozen cable last year. anyway, when i went to see how to pull it apart again, i saw that the bracket on the column was loose. i saw that there was another one of the torx bolts holding it in. i simply installed the other bolt and tightened them with a bit of loctite on them. i then readjusted the shifter cable and i was good to go.

notafraid, its a simple torx bolt. just tighten it up with a ratchet. no special tools..
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 08:45 PM
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OOOOOH, its a torx bolt! Hey, on a side note...

A much cheaper alternative to loc-tite is fingernail polish. I used to keep some in my tool kit when I was an armorer in the military. I figure a single mom might not have any loc-tite laying around... but every woman on the planet seems to have a DRAWER full off nail polish.
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 08:46 PM
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OOOOOH, its a torx bolt! Hey, on a side note...

A much cheaper alternative to loc-tite is fingernail polish. I used to keep some in my tool kit when I was an armorer in the military. I figure a single mom might not have any loc-tite laying around... but every woman on the planet seems to have a DRAWER full of nail polish.

DOH! How do I delete the double post?
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 08:57 PM
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i think its like a t25 IIRC. oh, you cant delete it now. its cool though. the loctite, i have a ton of it. i've been a mechanic for about 18yrs now so,.....
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 08:59 PM
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oh yes, a DRAWER full of polish....I resemble that.

So I can see the column by taking off the plastic around that right? Just a couple screws holding that on and that's about it right?????

Thanks again for everybody's help. I'm not afraid to "get my polish" messed up (haha) as long as I know what I am digging in to.
 
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Old Feb 28, 2009 | 09:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Immortal_Ben
OOOOOH, its a torx bolt! Hey, on a side note...

A much cheaper alternative to loc-tite is fingernail polish. I used to keep some in my tool kit when I was an armorer in the military. I figure a single mom might not have any loc-tite laying around... but every woman on the planet seems to have a DRAWER full off nail polish.
just wondering what YOU are doing with a bunch of fingernail polish
 
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