Chaplin

Hi there. I have a 2006 F150 Lariat Supercrew 5.4 with a hair under 50K miles on it. Always been reliable.

Tonight the following happened.

*Started the truck fine, put it in reverse. When I got to the street I went to put it in drive. I noticed going from R to D there was almost NO resistance. It felt too fast and smooth. Sure enough, it wouldn't drive (even with the middle shift **** put at D), I could only drive in reverse
*Freaked out, I shut the truck off in the middle of the street (where it now sits and I can't move it!) and after that, I could not crank it anymore. Just silence and I hear 2 clicks. I have enough power, it's reading at 12.4v.
*The shifter won't go out of park unless I take the center console off and push the white release button... OR... turn the key all the way before crank, THEN the shift **** will move
*I can't start it in neutral either
*I checked the fuse box the best I can. I can't tell if the starter relay went bad. I checked every fuse that remotely sounded like it could be start related. None blown. But there were two long rectangle type fuses that I have no idea what they're called or how to check if they're blown.
*Even with the car on D, R, 1 or 2, the truck wants to roll freely backwards
*I can't push the car, even in neutral! Right now I have the emergency brake on to keep it from rolling back. It seems it wants to roll back
*did the tap trick on the starter solenoid but that didn't work. Wires were connected to it properly

Right now my car is in the middle of the street blocking neighborhood traffic. Help please? Thanks in advance

I don't THINK it's the starter because the truck did start initially but I'm really out of my element here so who knows.

BareBonesXL

Sounds like the shifter linkage at the transmission itself. I think that the N and P switches are in the transmissions so what you see on the column indicator might not matter. You need to get underneath and look at the linkage at the transmission.

I don't know if 2006 looks like this but it's a good example, I think.

Chaplin

Thanks so much! I think that's the OTHER end of what I just found. My truck started and is now in the driveway!
Here is a photo (Please excuse how gross it is under the shift console, I had no idea all the gunk that got in there and pet hair)

Can't believe I didn't catch this immediately but I was looking down in there while sitting in the driver's seat so it wasn't as obvious as from the passenger side.

Do you (or anyone) know what this part is called? You can see where that corroded yellow thing (need to know it's name), is supposed to grab onto the metal gear thing. But you can see how it slipped off. The yellow corroded thing is broken inside. Once I hooked that back up, the car started right up and would shift fine.
I'm wondering, can I replace just that broken part? Or would I need to replace the entire rod and all connectors on both side of it?
I'm also wondering if I just used some gaffers tape and wound it super tight to keep it ON, if that would be fine?

Thanks again! You nailed it

artsr2002

Shift linkage bushing. Same part as shown in the video.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/do...+bushing,11004

Chaplin

Thank you so much, this really helps. Both of you
I'll just order this online and tape it down for the short term!
Whew I thought this was going to be a much bigger headache. Finally some good news