Stuck in park after heavy rain

[k2more]

I have a 2001 Explorer Sport Trac.

Normally the transmission works great but if I've driven in a heavy rain through standing water I'll have issues on my next drive when I try to put it in gear. That's when the transmission will stick. I can put it into drive or reverse and nothing happens until I rev the engine. Then all of a sudden it engages and the car will lurch forward (or backward). One other symptom is that the brakes seem to grab hard the first couple times after the transmission finally engages but the transmission will work normally.

The car has actually had this problem for several years but I never realized the cause until this fall/winter when we've received record rains and I finally made the connection. There's no doubt it only happens after the undercarriage gets soaked after driving through a lot of standing water on the roads.

And then the issue is gone the next time I go for a drive until the next heavy rain.

I have 196k original miles and haven't had any transmission or other major work done to the car.

Thanks!

 

[drdoom]

I would first try cleaning the harness connections and put some dielectric grease in there too.

 

[k2more]

That seems logical! Is there just one transmission harness?

Thanks!

 

[drdoom]

There are two main ones, one of which is the range sensor on the linkage armature, and another big one too.

 

[k2more]

I'm also wondering if it could be the pawl. When I have the issue, I put it in gear and give it enough gas to cause what ever is stuck to release. Maybe the pawl is stuck? Next time it happens I'll try to see if I can manually push the car forward (on a flat surface) to try to unstick it before I revert back to gassing it(never a fun feeling).

And I haven't verified its not the brakes that are locked up. I'll also try to see if it rolls when I put it in neutral.

 

[drdoom]

I would think those are both valid possibilities.

 

[imp]

Water entering defectively sealed Transmission Range Sensor. Shorts contact to contact causing solenoid malfunctions. Dries out, problem gone. imp