03 V8 Stuck In Park

[morziac]

As it says my Ex is stuck on my lawn in park, it will start but no matter wat i do it will not come out of park, i know with this model requires the brakes to be depressed to be able to move it into gear , and i feel like my brakes r playing up. when i drove it home they felt like they were fading out and the pedal was hardening up , but i didnt think too much of it at the time as i know the brakes r up to **** on the vehicle.

has anyone had any simliar experiences? is it gonna be the brakes causing it or am i gonna be up for some sort of ridiculously expensive tranny repairs?

 

[BigRondo]

Could be the brake light switch or the fuse for the brake lights.

 

[waskly]

do your brake lights come on when you hit the brakes?

99% you have a bad brake switch and the lights do not come on. hence it cant go into gear.

 

[morziac]

never even thought about that, i'll have alok first thing in the morning, cheers guys

 

[morziac]

never mind, just checked and the brake lights come on as per normal. any other ideas?

 

[Explorer Pete]

Is your truck parked on an incline? If not, then it could be the lock out pin under the steering wheel. Look under the colum for a round window and turn it so you can push the pin inside to release the lock out pin. Or you can remove the colum covers and find the pin that way. At the top of the shifter lever is a micro switch that is activated when you step on the brake and pull the shift lever to get out of park. It could be bad, that is all the ideas I have to help you. Good luck

 

[Noslo351]

That happened to my wifes 2002. The plastic retainer that holds the cable in it's bracket popped out. Look under the drivers side and check if the cable is in the bracket. I popped it back in then saftey wired it with some stainless wire to make sure it stays put.

 

[swetrid]

Probably needs shift interlock solenoid, very common on 02-05 Explorers.

 

[jakedrew]

same thing happened on my 04. Forgot what they replaced at the shop, but ^ that sounds right. or the BSI? SWITCH.

good luck

 

[lynchy wa]

check your manual if youve got one, page 118. you can disengage the bsi by removing the access cover over from the p on shifter cover, depress button with screwy then apply brake and shift into neutral replace cover and bobs your mothers bother....maybe.mines a 2004 and dont know if same procedure works for 2003 and not sure if this'll help

 

[morziac]

i knew i loved this forum for a reason , everyone on here has always got an idea for everything, its awesome lol.

i pulled the calipers off yesterday to inspect em clean em and paint em cos im getting new slotted rotors all round while ive got her up on stands , so ill check all these thing that uve said in a couple of days as soon as i get the new rotors on and calipers back on .

cheers guys , ill keep u posted

 

[turblown]

ill keep u posted

Back from the dead. Having the same issue. How did you resolve it?

 

[imp]

Probably needs shift interlock solenoid, very common on 02-05 Explorers.

+1! ^

 

[TechGuru]

Have you tried using the shift override to at least get it moved?

 

[turblown]

Have you tried using the shift override to at least get it moved?

Yes, I kept searching and found out about this override (thank you for the response though). I used the override and it worked (see pics I took below or the video I found on youtube). The Explorer is now parked in the garage. I verified that the brake lights were not working. Then I tried moving the shifter out of park again without the override and it worked for some reason. The brake lights are working again also. So I know it's an intermittent issue and couldn't be a blown fuse. But I checked fuses #23 and #26 on the driver's interior side anyways and they were both fine. The responses above point to brake light switch, shift interlock solenoid, brake safety interlock (BSI). I took a pic of what I believe is the brake light switch (see pic below). Is that what I need to replace?

 

[imp]

\\

Yes, I kept searching and found out about this override (thank you for the response though). I used the override and it worked (see pics I took below or the video I found on youtube). The Explorer is now parked in the garage. I verified that the brake lights were not working. Then I tried moving the shifter out of park again without the override and it worked for some reason. The brake lights are working again also. So I know it's an intermittent issue and couldn't be a blown fuse. But I checked fuses #23 and #26 on the driver's interior side anyways and they were both fine. The responses above point to brake light switch, shift interlock solenoid, brake safety interlock (BSI). I took a pic of what I believe is the brake light switch (see pic below). Is that what I need to replace?

Believe it or not, there are 2 brake pedal-activated switches, 3 if equipped with Traction-Control. The Ford Shop Manual calls what I always call "Brake Light Switch", "Brake Pedal Position "Switch". It's tied in with the ABS system, also. If that switch goes bad, the ABS Module will likely turn ABS light "ON". Is your ABS light on?

There is a "Brake Pressure Switch" which also sends input to the ABS Module. That seems to have nothing to do with the Park interlock circuit, far as I can see. In addition, with Traction-Control, there is a third brake pedal switch called "Redundant Pedal Switch", which "reports" to the PCM which then reports to the ABS Module. Do you have Traction-Control?

If I'm right, that Brake Pedal Switch failure turns on ABS light, and your ABS light goes out after "prove-out", your switch is not the source of loss of Brake Lights. The trouble would lie in wiring, possibly the "Multi-Function Switch" (used to be Turn Signal Switch, as it is involved in Brake Lights also. imp

 

[TechGuru]

According to the wiring diagrams, if the multi-function switch where causing the brake lights to not work the 3rd brake light would still be working as it does not go though the switch.

 

[Number Twelve]

As a matter of course, the first time I got into the steering column, I found the brake pedal-shift interlock solenoid with it's shift lever interference pin. I put a zip-tie on it to hold it in the down position so it can never stop the shift lever from moving. Thanks to this site, I eventually found that this is also related to a defective shift lever casting that breaks off if you jerk the shift lever too hard. (Search for, "Shift lever came off in my hand"). Of course, I can't recommend that other people disable this multi-failure device because, "You're too stupid to press the brake pedal before you shift out of Park" (according to the latest engineering wisdom, and maybe some law I've never heard of). Don't do it!

This was quickly followed by the telescoping steering column mod and the $100 ignition key defeating Mod.
Don't do those, either.

 

[imp]

According to the wiring diagrams, if the multi-function switch where causing the brake lights to not work the 3rd brake light would still be working as it does not go though the switch. ....

I noticed that the 3rd. lite was operated separately. Thus, it does not change if flasher is operating, and maybe Ford did that to keep brake lite notification if Multi-function goes haywire. Do we know whether his 3rd. was working all the time? imp

 

[morziac]

Hey guys sorry I never replied to this years ago lol
I never actually came up with a resolution. I ended up replacing my rotors and pads at the time cos they were due, once I get it all back together it came good. So I'm not actually sure what the cause was.

However unfortunately now it has come back again and I'm having to use the shift interlock button everytime I drive it now. Brake lights r still working and I don't have traction control so I'm not entirely sure what the problem is.
I've also lost all drive to low range so I don't know if that has anything to do with it :/