Lost Park Gear; Screw Fell From Behind Console | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Lost Park Gear; Screw Fell From Behind Console

duke16

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City, State
Raleigh, NC
Year, Model & Trim Level
1997 5.0L AWD XLT
While I was backing out a parking spot just now, the below screw fell from behind my console and landed on my right foot. I didn't think to much of it, until I went to try and park. The gear stick will not move into the Park position. Before I go in behind the console blind, does anyone know where this screw goes? Prior to today, I had noticed it was getting harder to position the gear stick into Drive.

Automatic. Thanks.
 

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Crisis averted. I found where the bolt fell out of, it was holding a bracket that had a wire attached to it. The only thing was somehow attached to the gear level. After contorting my body into a rather unnatural position, I managed to get my head up into the back of the console screw the nut back in. The shifts are nice a solid now.

One thing I did notice while I was under there was a small shaft going into the plate that had grease on it. Is that normal? Or was something supposed to be on the end of that shaft? I'll try and get a picture tomorrow if I can.
 






Wow-
I had the same thing happen about 2 months ago-
as you know there is no way I could have explained where the dog gone thing went-but it sure is important--
 






Wow-
I had the same thing happen about 2 months ago-
as you know there is no way I could have explained where the dog gone thing went-but it sure is important--

Yea, anyone else noticing their gear lever becoming increasing hard to get into gear properly may want to check these 2 bolts.

When you did yours, did you happen to notice this greasy black rod? Looks like something should be covering it.
 

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nothing covers that rod its actually a guide rod to line things up those bolts coming loos is a common prolem on a lot of fords especially crown vics and marquis i have an 03 marauder and my bolts were coming loose constantly next time they come loose try a lil dab of blue loctite that will keep them tight
 






sorry about my last post crappy wireless keyboard it should have started nothing covers that lil rod
 












Exactly where is that plate and bolts located? Will it be
apparent when I look under the dash?

My Sport's 'PARK' engagement has become a little notchy lately.....

Thanks,
ROE
 






Exactly where is that plate and bolts located? Will it be
apparent when I look under the dash?

My Sport's 'PARK' engagement has become a little notchy lately.....

Thanks,
ROE

That picture about does it-you'll see the steering sensor ring when you look up there-
There are a few of those bolts up there-but it seems to me the top one is the one which was loose.
 






Do you recall what size Torx that is? Looks like about a 25?

Mine seems a little sloppy and I'm going to check it out tomorrow. If I have to contort myself under the dash I would like to do it in one shot.

Thanks. :salute:
 






I don't remember, sorry.

It's located towards the inside of the car, up and to the back of the dash. If you wiggle the gear stick with your free hand, you should be able to follow the movement to the bracket.
 






t30 is the correct torx size a t25 wilol fit but over tightening will strip the bolt tighten it snug with a lil bit of loctite the blue and no more worries
 






t30 is the correct torx size a t25 wilol fit but over tightening will strip the bolt tighten it snug with a lil bit of loctite the blue and no more worries

I was able to use a T27 torx on it...

I'm amazed to find this post. This happened driving home on Friday. *Thunk* - something hits my shoe. I stop at a light and shift into park so I can reach down to find what it is on my shoe - only I'm in REVERSE NOW dangit, as PARK is now non-existant!

10 minutes later, I'm looking at that picture (duke16's), identical to the one I have in my hand. And after scrunching into the floor, upside-down, I can see pretty much what's in the other photo.

Thanks VERY much for the photos, as they're incredibly helpful.

Next paycheck when I have some money left over, I'm contributing to this site/forum, which has helped me out about 8 times now...

Mike Y
Dallas, Texas
 






Thanks!
I have been looking for the solution to the same problem, and finally found it here!
In the case of mine, both the bolts were still there but very lose.
I tightened them up and viola!

I love this forum :)
 






I am having the same issue where the top bolt of that bracket fell out but I am also having an issue getting it back in and lined up. Should i put it in Neutral and try? It'll fit in th hole, the thread just won't catch.
 






I am having the same issue where the top bolt of that bracket fell out but I am also having an issue getting it back in and lined up. Should i put it in Neutral and try? It'll fit in th hole, the thread just won't catch.
welcome to EF! I dont remember mine being that hard, i just kind of wiggled the collumn as i tried, mine didnt quite line up. odd that yours doesnt catch. i forget, still waking up, i assume its theeaded, was it stripped?
 






welcome to EF! I dont remember mine being that hard, i just kind of wiggled the collumn as i tried, mine didnt quite line up. odd that yours doesnt catch. i forget, still waking up, i assume its theeaded, was it stripped?
Thankfully I was able to get it lined back up by just moving the shifter some. Once I did that it lined back up and went right in. Used my T30 bit to tighten it down and now it'll go into Park again. This thread was so helpful in finding the issue and resolving it.
 






blue loctite
 



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