Stuck in neutral or park

[IanKeogh]

2004 Explorer SOHC V6 - I am stuck in neutral, it will shift out of park but when it goes to R D 3 2 or 1 it just stay in neutral. I though it was the MLPS (Neutral Safety Switch) so I replaced it but that did not fix the problem.

I have a friend who checked for codes and there are none. The fuses appear to be OK

Anyone got any ideas?

I am out of them at the moment and dont want to sink too much more money in to thing as it's only worth $4,500 (when it's working).

Thanks,
Ian

 

[imp]

Neutral Safety Switch does NOTHING MORE than keep engine from being started in any "drive" position, to prevent lurching forward (or backward) of the vehicle suddenly.

Do you have any FLUID in the transmission? I believe a "no-drive" condition in ALL selector-lever positions could hardly occur without generating some trouble code, since the computer would "know" the engine is turning, but all shafts in the transmission would be standing still.

Do you feel the selector-lever "clicking" as you shift positions? If not, could the mechanism connecting to the transmission have broken, or fallen off? This the PCM proly would not "know" about.

Any transmission gurus got ideas?? imp

EDIT: BTW, common code-readers buyable at parts stores will NOT read transmission-generated codes, only "Check Engine" light codes.

 

[IanKeogh]

My wife had the transmission fluid replace at Ford dealership in Ohio last July when the Explorer hit 100,000 miles and I have not seen any leaks (driveway is clean) and when changing the MLPS out the linkage seemed fine.

I guess I wasted $70 on an safety swtich (not returning it due to 20% re- stocking fee)

I do NOT feel the selector-lever clicking into gear when moving the shifter. The problem started on Tuesday but after about 10 minutes the wife said it clicked back in after leaving in park for a minutes and tried it again after the car warmed up, same thing Wed & Thursday, but today is just wont click in to place.

 

[High_Order1]

This is dangerous, but youre gonna have to figure out a way to observe if the shift linkage is moving the pawl on the tranny. I know how *I* would do it, but my spidey liability sense says not to share it here..... good luck


Shawn

 

[IanKeogh]

Last night, my buddy was under the car while I had the engine turned on and I shifted between the shift positions and he said it looked good.

We are thinking it maybe the solenoid block, beyond that the torque convertor and last the damn tranny (I dont want to get a new tranny)

There are NO check engine or service lights on.

 

[IanKeogh]

I'm going to order a new solenoid block, from what I've read the 9L2Z-7G391-A is the latest and greatest and should fix the problem.

 

[engtech]

Did you ever figure out what caused the Explorer not to shift into any gears?

I recently changed the transmission fluid on my explorer, while also replacing the solenoid block. Took it for a test drive it was fine, but the next time I when to drive it did not shift out of neutral or park. The shifter moves, but there are no gears. Some have said to check the Digital Transmission Range Sensor, I may replace it.

 

[Ferrara77]

Did you ever figure out what caused the Explorer not to shift into any gears?

I recently changed the transmission fluid on my explorer, while also replacing the solenoid block. Took it for a test drive it was fine, but the next time I when to drive it did not shift out of neutral or park. The shifter moves, but there are no gears. Some have said to check the Digital Transmission Range Sensor, I may replace it.

What was the solution ?