Gear selector loose on 2003. Won't get in park.
 

Drove to work this morning and everything was great until I parked and noticed my 03 expedition was rolling backwards slightly. Tried shifting through the gears. The gear selector has a lot of slop. It will appear to be in park via the indicator but it isn't. I put the parking brake on and started google search. I saw some posts for older year models having torx head screws that came loose under the steering column. Also saw some posts about an adjuster breaking and I'm not sure but that may have been affecting the indicator only and not the ability to actually get into gear.

Anyway, I just wanted to post it up here to see what you guys had to say. What should I check when I get home after work? Any good write ups on this and/or pics? Does the cable and/or other parts tend to need replacement?

At least I saw it immediately and didn't come outside later to find it backed into another car :). I may have to start using the parking brake all the time now.

You mean you don't already? That is what it's for after all.

Previous thread:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...sometimes.html

The broken adjuster only effects the indicator/pointer. For the torx screws, here's a couple of pictures of them: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ml#post7790246

Look under the dash and check the shift cable the outer housing of the shift cable could be broken. That's what happend to my 99 the torque screws were tight and the adjuster was fine the cable housing just broke and the shifter moved freely but it would not get into park or shift out of drive. It wasnt hard to replace or very expensive.

I didn't have much time tonight but did stick my head under there and couldn't find the torx screws that are mentioned. Are you sure those are on the 03 expedition which is probably similar to the 04+ f150? Keep in mind the expedition was redesigned for 03 but I know the engine and trans aren't much different.

They are in there Dan I have had to tighten them on my 98 Expy for the same reason My 01 F350 is the same as well. They are a bit of a bugger to find,

Turns out those torx heads aren't there after all. I took the lower dash apart and the plastic around the steering column. Definitely not there on my 03.

This was also easy to confirm with a picture I saw of it here - https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ml#post7790246

Turns out is was the yellow retaining clip on the shift cable. This retaining clip slides up and down. In the up position there is full adjustment of the cable. I simply had to find the right position and slide it back down until it clipped in place. Not sure how that came undone. I actually think it may never have been clipped all the way down based on how I saw the retaining part of the clip bent outwards as plastic has a bit of a memory. Anyway, happy it was so simple.

That retaining clip is like this.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post10371960