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Shift to Park Warning

I'm having the same message on my 2011 explorer with 26,000 miles. Had it to the dealer three times and still not fixed.

Send me your information so I can escalate this to your regional customer service manager (CSM), Blueflame16. In your PM, be sure to include your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership.

Crystal
 



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I just got this alert for the first time when turning the car off at the gas station. I turned it back on, changed gear to drive and back to park and it was fine. My wife, ex is hers, hasn't told me if this has happened before. The ex has 50K miles on it. If it's ongoing, at least it's an easy fix.
 






Dealer fixed our "shift to park" issue by replacing the shifter and did the power steering recall. Good to go now.
 






I have also found 2 new issues associated with this problem. In addition to getting the "Shift to Park" warning on the console, the seat will not slide back automatically until it is in park and you can not use the remote start feature because the car thinks it's not in park.
 






^^^ That may be but neither of those should really be an issue because you shouldn't be leaving your vehicle with it stating "shift to park". If anyone gets the message when they shut it off, just tap the shifter button quickly and it solves the problem.
 






Well, I finally got the new knob and wasted no time putting in (took pictures of the process also). The new knob works as it should (shift, manual controls) but I am still getting the shift to park message with the new knob :mad: Guess I'll have to take it to the dealership for diagnosis....
 






If you tap the button, does it go away? How often do you get this message?

I have yet to read 1 person who had theirs replaced not fix the problem.
 






Yes, tapping the button a couple of times gets rid of the message. Happens at least every three times the vehicle is shut off.
 






Did you mean you replaced the entire shifter when you said "knob"?

Peter
 






They replaced shifter assembly on our 2013 Ex Sport and no more issues.
We were seeing the no remote start, notification on left screen, etc.
 






I was under the impression based on my earlier questions and answers that only the knob (shift buttons and main button) needed to be replaced not the entire shifter assembly so I replaced only the knob....
 






Although the issue seems to be associated with the knob, I'm not aware of anyone replacing just the knob before. I believe that in all cases the entire shifter was replaced.

Peter
 






Although the issue seems to be associated with the knob, I'm not aware of anyone replacing just the knob before. I believe that in all cases the entire shifter was replaced.

Peter


The thing is, looking at the diagram from page 8 that lexia and I posted, it doesn't make sense what else it could be. Let's look at the parts that make this unit up.

No 1 = whole kit
No 2 = Shift knob, already replaced
No 3 = Bolt to hold shift knob - no reason to replace this
No 4 = fake leather boot - no reason to replace this
No 6 = The cable - nothing to do with electronics
No 7 = bracket - nothing to do with electronics
No 8 = bracket retainer - nothing to do with electronics.

That is all there is to the whole system. I don't see what any other part besides the shift knob would have to do with it. The button itself is the issue within the knob obviously resolved by the tapping of the button.

I'm at a loss unless Lexia got a bad shifter which I doubt (but possible). I don't recall anyone having any additional issues with the replacement knob.

One thing that I did just notice is that the "kits" have updated part numbers "B" and "C" at the end instead of "A". So something was changed in the kits. Looking at the shift knob, the shift knobs are still all "A" parts as if the shifter didn't change. I do know that Ford did fix this problem with an updated part way back when mine was done because my dealer told me there was a newer version on order.

At a loss here on what it could be.. it's definitely not the cable adjustment.
 






A little update. When I took the vehicle out for a test run to make sure everything was functioning properly after replacing the knob I got the message when I shut it off. However, I drove it today, shut it off 4 times in the course of the day and did not get the message at all, which is very unusual. I could generally count on it happening at least once throughout the day. I will obviously keep watch but maybe it is fixed even though I got the message directly after install.
 






Keep us posted. I am sure you will know in the next day or two tops.
 






The thing is, looking at the diagram from page 8 that lexia and I posted, it doesn't make sense what else it could be. Let's look at the parts that make this unit up.

No 1 = whole kit
No 2 = Shift knob, already replaced
No 3 = Bolt to hold shift knob - no reason to replace this
No 4 = fake leather boot - no reason to replace this
No 6 = The cable - nothing to do with electronics
No 7 = bracket - nothing to do with electronics
No 8 = bracket retainer - nothing to do with electronics.

That is all there is to the whole system. I don't see what any other part besides the shift knob would have to do with it. The button itself is the issue within the knob obviously resolved by the tapping of the button.

I'm at a loss unless Lexia got a bad shifter which I doubt (but possible). I don't recall anyone having any additional issues with the replacement knob.

One thing that I did just notice is that the "kits" have updated part numbers "B" and "C" at the end instead of "A". So something was changed in the kits. Looking at the shift knob, the shift knobs are still all "A" parts as if the shifter didn't change. I do know that Ford did fix this problem with an updated part way back when mine was done because my dealer told me there was a newer version on order.

At a loss here on what it could be.. it's definitely not the cable adjustment.
I really doubt the knob itself is the problem. I bet it's more about the mechanical link/cable coming off the shifter or where it connects on the opposite end. There are electronics other than the "button" in there somewhere because each position has to be detected and the button has nothing to do with the different positions (park,drive,manual,neutral). I assume the sensor is at the opposite/far end of the cable assembly.
 






I really doubt the knob itself is the problem. I bet it's more about the mechanical link/cable coming off the shifter or where it connects on the opposite end. There are electronics other than the "button" in there somewhere because each position has to be detected and the button has nothing to do with the different positions (park,drive,manual,neutral). I assume the sensor is at the opposite/far end of the cable assembly.

Have you had this problem before? It has always been the button. I've worked with my dealership on this and was able to duplicate it over and over again (even had posted a youtube video showing how it fails and how to correct) on command. You duplicate it WITHOUT moving the shifter, heck you don't even need to touch the shifter. Just use one finger and tap the shift unlock button and it fixes and/or recreates the problem. If you don't have to move it in any direction and just tap the button, there is no way it is the link/cable coming off of it. The cable is pulled to tell the vehicle what "mode" you want it in and is a mechanical thing.

Originally Ford had an advisory that the cable needed to be adjusted because they thought when you were putting it in park, it wasn't moving it to the full position for the vehicle to register. This was not the case and Ford came out with a replacement part and now

This is purely electronic.

Ford Edge was having the same issue, here is a copy of the invoice from one of the Edge members:

20130814_220205_zps41e8cd54.jpg
 






LEXIA,

I cross referenced that part number and it is the same exact shift kit that the Explorer uses. Except now the FA is now FB (updated part). If you look at the link we both had for the parts layout, the part # CT4Z-7210-FB (depends on which shifter type you have) so it seems the dealer ordered the whole kit.

But again it doesn't make sense since nothing else in the parts I listed are electronic in post 173.

Be sure to update us on if it still reoccurs.
 






LEXIA,

I cross referenced that part number and it is the same exact shift kit that the Explorer uses. Except now the FA is now FB (updated part). If you look at the link we both had for the parts layout, the part # CT4Z-7210-FB (depends on which shifter type you have) so it seems the dealer ordered the whole kit.

But again it doesn't make sense since nothing else in the parts I listed are electronic in post 173.

Be sure to update us on if it still reoccurs.

I sure will. Drove it this morning and no message. I expect it will happen at least once this week if it isn't fixed.
 



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Have you had this problem before? It has always been the button. I've worked with my dealership on this and was able to duplicate it over and over again (even had posted a youtube video showing how it fails and how to correct) on command. You duplicate it WITHOUT moving the shifter, heck you don't even need to touch the shifter. Just use one finger and tap the shift unlock button and it fixes and/or recreates the problem. If you don't have to move it in any direction and just tap the button, there is no way it is the link/cable coming off of it. The cable is pulled to tell the vehicle what "mode" you want it in and is a mechanical thing.

Originally Ford had an advisory that the cable needed to be adjusted because they thought when you were putting it in park, it wasn't moving it to the full position for the vehicle to register. This was not the case and Ford came out with a replacement part and now

This is purely electronic.

Ford Edge was having the same issue, here is a copy of the invoice from one of the Edge members:

20130814_220205_zps41e8cd54.jpg
Yes, I had the issue, dealer replaced the entire assembly.
I said I doubt its the shifter lever itself, just an opinion. But what I do know, which was my point, is that there are other electronics associated. The button doesn't know what position the shifter is in, so there has to be something at the other end of the cable to detect it. I can't say for sure that's the issue, but the previous statement made about there being no other electronics other than the button has to be false. That's all I was saying for sure, the rest was purely speculative.
 






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