Shifting into park on my 02 XLS

[JCR]

Does anyone else have any problems when shifting into park with your Explorer? I have an 02 XLS 4.0 and it seems to bump into something in the column when I try to go directly into park from drive. If I shift to reverse first it then will go straight into park without the bump. It has not always done this and used to go smoothly straight to park. My service guy commented that this was like the third or fourth one he had that does this. He was not aware of a TSB for this problem but thought there might be one coming if if the problem continues to grow among the 02 and up Explorers.

 

[BSlusser]

i it was normal for there to be an abnormal divide seperating P from the rest. i think it's so u dont accidentally shift into P while ur already in motion from going in R. whatever, im probly missing something in this equation

 

[satyr64]

It sounds like the brake colum shift lock starting to fail.

 

[daveleeander]

'02 XLT Doin Same

Mine has been doing that for almost a year now. At first, I thought pushing harder on the brake helped, it didn't. Now I just bring it back down toward reverse a little, then back up into park. It usually works the second little "hitch".
However, one thing to be aware of, it seems sometimes that although it feels like it slid into park, when you let your foot off the brake, it will roll one way or the other and the shifter will move "deeper" into park, and a couple times out of park . I don't trust just putting it in there now and opening the door. I wait a second to be sure it is in park.
I'm getting the rear done in a couple of weeks. I wa going to have them look at then and see what it is.

Dave

 

[citation550]

Yes, it is doing the same thing as yours. If you shift into R first it seams to go into P easy.

 

[Aero540T]

My '03 does that as well, I thought it was normal at first, but I'm curious if it is supposed to do that or not...

 

[mrtommytcd]

I've had my Ex for a year now... same situation as all of the above. As for the "sliding into deeper park" - before I bought mine, I read numerous reviews, and I think it was automobile.com or something that mentioned that problem. If I recall correctly, he said that he didn't feel all that safe after shifting into Park because the Ex had just a few more inches it wanted to roll every time before it locked on P.

Anyway... I'm having the situation with P, and am finding that pulling back to R and then into P works just fine. Like I said, it's been a year, and it's gotten neither worse nor better. I've had it serviced and none of the mechanics who drove it have mentioned it at all, sou ntil it gets worse, I'm leaving well enough alone.

T

 

[daveleeander]

Well,

I'll add to my previous statement above. I now feel paranoid about the park situation. When I got in it after church yesterday and started it up, it lurched forward, and the shifter went into park further than I had put it in when I stopped. Scared me.
A good reminder to have your foot on the brake when you start this puppy.
Something is not right with this whole scenario of the park thing.

Dave

 

[steel]

I found this thread in a search and decided to bring it back to life to see if any of the experts have some sdvice for me.

I have been having the same problem with a '02 Mountaineer. The extra little wiggle to get it into park is not that big of a deal but now mine is not going into park at all. I have it up on blocks because I was doing other work. One of the things I am doing is removing the front drive shaft to check on the binding of the wheels.

Could the fact that I have the vehicle in the air and the fact that I have been spinning the drive shaft by hand to access everything have anything to do with the transmission not going back into park?

How the heck do I get this thing to go back in park?

 

[satyr64]

brake colum shift lock

 

[Fox Fader]

Hmm, my 05 has no shift lock.

 

[satyr64]

Fox are you having the same problem?

 

[Fox Fader]

Fox are you having the same problem?

No, not at all. I can pull down the leveer from park without stepping on the brake when running, and it goes ito park with no problems.

 

[steel]

brake colum shift lock

Originally I thought that was the problem...

...but...

When I called the dealer to order the part (91 stinkin' dollars) the guy at the parts counter told me that the brake shift interlock (I think it is the same part you are refering to) would only cause problems coming OUT of park, not in. He mentioned that it was most likely the cable.

While I take the advice on this forum seriously...this got me thinking.

Any thoughts? Is it possible that the part that prevents you from going out of park could malfunction and actually have the opposite effect?

 

[thepotroast]

I also am having this same issue on my 03 XLT 4x4....from Park to anything (Reverse, Neutral, Drive) goes smoothly without any hangups....however going from anything back to park it wants to stop at Reverse....I have to engage it completely in Reverse and then go to park.

I had Cottman Transmissions check it out, and they looked at the shift cable....but they said it was at the correct adjustment. There was mention of a shift solenoid (or shift motor?) inside the tranny that may be going bad...

 

[rrgone]

http://www.justanswer.com/uploads/fordguy4u/2009-01-29_143651_TSB_04-22-12.pdf

 

[peteypie]

Had the same problem i dealt with it until i was stuck in park during a snow storm and had to use a knife to push the locking lever down to get it into drive. Works perfectly now that I replaced the sending unit on the brake pedal, the old one fried and the new one from ford had much beefier connections.

 

[RickM]

My wife started complaining about the hard-to get-into-Park issue with her '02 Explorer about 3 years ago. One day I borrow the truck to go to the local recycling center.

I arrive, put the truck in Park and run into the office to ask where to unload an old dryer.

Two minutes later I walk out of the office and I'm stunned that the truck is missing. Who could have taken it....one of the workers? Was it stolen?

As it turned out the truck traveled on it's own, in reverse, for about 500 feet, in a large arc through the crowded parking lot. It literally came to rest exactly between two garbage trucks (the only empty parking space in a line of 20 vehicles) and stopped when it bumped up against a resting plow blade. The odds of the Explorer landing there had to be a billion to one....it still boggles my mind.

Apparently the shift lever stopped too early and never made it to Park, rather, it rested in Reverse. The idle was low enough that when I went into the office there weren't enough RPMs to engage. I guess a small variation changed that...


Needless to say, this issue is a dangerous one.

FYI, one day I used a little too much force and it felt like I broke something in the mechanism....perhaps the interlock pin mentioned in the above-linked TSB.

 

[natty575]

Hi,

I wonder if this is a similar issue to a problem that I have...on a cold start, I cannot get the gearbox out of park...I press the buttton in at all and have to wait for 3-4 minutes until the button can be depressed. Maybe the transmission fluid warms up or what...I'm clutching at straws now. Have also tried turning key position to on, and sometimes can get it into Neutral, but not all of the time.

 

[Doomie17]

check the bolts for the shifter lever. when i got my trans rebuilt for some reason they lossened them and i had no park and ran over my foot. steel toes for the win