Stuck in park

[p8ntman442]

My 06 explorer V6 auto 4x4 has gotten stuck in park twice now. My wife drove the kids to school, parked facing uphill both times and came out to find the car would not shift into gear. This time, all the dash lights were on, and the message center said check brake system.

Curious note, the heater fan did not work either time. The first time my wife pressed and released the e-brake repeatedly and then the light went off and the heater came on at the same time. This time she did the same process with no luck, shut off and repeated 4 times and then all the lights disappeared and the heater came on.

We are in CT, and it was -6*F today, and I'm pretty sure it was very cold the other time it happened.

Any help is appreciated. The car is operational right now, but its not a very reassuring thing to wonder if your going to get stranded.

 

[Tech By Trade]

Look it up in the manual, there is a bypass for the lock in the cup holder. You need to jam a screw driver in to bypass it temporarily. There is a updated module that can fix the actuator in a lot of cases. if it doesn't work you are looking at around 200 beans for a new shifter if you replace it yourself.

 

[p8ntman442]

Thanks for the reply, I red up on the solenoid issue on the lockout. I'm concerned that my issue is not the same though. A bad solenoid would not explain the dash lights brake system warning and the heater blower motor. I'm thinking there is a common power source affecting these items, hoping that someone had experienced this before and we could use that experience to build on to determine the fix. Its very tough to diagnose as its intermittent and doesn't happen when I'm around the car.

I'm going to test the battery to make sure its not a low voltage issue.

 

[banditxp]

i would check all grounds and main power wires. also make sure your battery is good. auto part store can check that. if a battery is getting weak it can cause some weird problems. but i think its more you have a bad ground or some short someplace.

i would just look at all the wireing harnesses under the hood and make so none are rubbing anything or none have cut wires.

i have a problem with mine where my aftermarket K&N filter rubbed through the harness under the filter and was causing all sorts of weird errors and problems when it shorted out the wires.

 

[snoranger]

Sounds like an electrical problem... Either a bad power or ground... That is affecting your stop light circuit (among other things). If it gets stuck in park again:
Shut the truck off.
Turn the key to the first position (unlock the steering and shifter. Not the run position, which would turn the ignition on and engage the brake interlock.)
Put the truck in neutral.
Start truck.
Shift to drive or reverse and go.

There's a good chance you won't have brake lights when this circuit isn't working.