95 F150 Stuck in park!?!?!??!
 

ok, my '95 F150 is stuck in park.
I had this happen once before and it was a really quirk.
The bulb had burned out in the cyclopse brake light.
Replacing the bulb and the blown fuse freed it to shift out of park again.
This time, I've checked all lights, they're good and working.
Checked all fuses, they're good.
But the blested thing is still stuck in park.
Any Ideas???? :-huh

I guess i should add that I'm only semi-literate when it comes to this blasted truck.
It's a V-6, automatic.
It was my hubby's truck before he passed away, and I know very little about it. I've kept it to hand down to our son next year, but it keeps having the quirkiest little problems and is about to drive me insane.
I don't know who should be put out of their misery, me or the truck. :-X01
-Leesa

It just won't shift out of park? Is it possible that the wheel needs to be turned one way or another?

I thought of that as well.
It starts, the sterring wheel and the front wheels turn fine.
Just won't release from park.

Last time the ABS light flashed when you tried to release it from park, (when it was a hard short caused by the cyclopse bulb being burnt out) but that is not the case this time.

I'm stumped. :-huh

I don't know how long you have had the truck or how often you have drove it if ever. But, you have to put your foot on the brake before you take it out of park. It's a safety thing. If you do that and it still doesn't work someone else might be able to help you. Good luck.

-Matt :-tap

EDIT TO ADD: Are you parked on a hill? It may be hard to take out of park if you are.

Beast brought up a good point. I have to really wrench on the shifter when I am parked on a hill. Hope it is that simple.

It's not parked on a hill, and I'm aware of the safety feature of applying the brake. (Yes, I'm female and blonde, but c'mon guys :-X24 )
Besides, isn't the brake safety feature pretty much standard on most vehicles??? lol The brake thing applies to my '02 Explorer and my '02 Cavalier. (yeah, I know, Chevy, bad word)
Anyway, I have no idea what's up with the F150. Went back later this afternoon and it was still sticking in park. Tinkered with the fuses a bit more. Pulled them, checked them and re-seated them. (Just double checking)
Eventually it did come out of park, and I hadn't changed anything. Same fuses as when this problem first started yesterday, but for some reason it comes out of park now. I'm leaning towards a short somewhere, probably related to the shift lock actuator, but I'm clueless as to where.
I'll just have to keep looking when it acts up.

The park/brake interlock ( see beast12 above) might need some adjustment. Not sure but I don't think electronics has anything to do this coming out of park.

That's it! I was trying to think of what it was called! Try looking in a Haynes manual and see if it has any info in there for you.

-Matt :-tap

I'll have to check into how to adjust the brake/park interlock then.
The reason I was leaning towards possibly a short was the hard short problem I had the first time (described in my original post).
The first time this happened (about 2 months ago) I had tried everything. There were other symptoms as well. (Dash lights were out, etc) I had torn the dash apart checking for shorts in the wiring, even replaced the light switch trying to fix the dash light issue. Then finally gave up and called a mechanic about scheduling it in the shop, he's the one that suggested checking all the bulbs. That's when we found the cyclops bulb out, relaced it and the associated fuse, and all of the problems cleared up.
Like i said, it's just been a very quirky mess.
Thanks
Leesa

I have a 90 F-150, same problem. Guy was out in woods, far from town, called me. I told him to take shifter cable loose from tranny & maually shift into gear to get to Denver. He did & now diagnosing problem. Doubt fuse here because shifter moves sloppy but still won't shift.

Have you tried getting the shifter out of Park without the engine running with the key in the steering wheel unlock position? I think the interlock only engages when the ignition is on.

I could be wrong because I haven't owned an automatic transmission in quite some time.

Still worth a try.

Tim, let me know what you end up doing to the one you have.

Mauler, I'll try that. Like I said, it's quirky, and seems to be shifting fine now.
{{SHRUGS}}
Leesa

stuck in park
 

Found my problem. The cast pot metal housing for the shifter broken. Bad news, Ford discontinued the part. I've search most of the salvage yards in Denver/metro, but they won't sell the part separate. Need to purchace complete steering column $150. My customer's quite irrate. If you're looking to see if this is your problem, it's easy. Remove lower dash panel under steering column. There's 4 1/2'' nuts to drop the column down. Don't drop it though before unhook the little wire which operates the gear indicator. It unhooks from the shifter assembly easy but you'll need to take the little wire housing loose with a 7/32" socket. When you drop the colum, the beak will show itself if you follow the shift lever as it travels down the column. Hope this helps.

Turn the key to the off position, not lock but forward from lock to off. Then see if the shift lever will move from park, if it does, put it in neutral and start it up and drive. Sounds like the shift interlock isn't working. What I told you to do is the fail safe for the shift interlock. :-X22