Sheldon

Started the truck last night but can't get the transmission out of park.

It's a '13 Lariat with the center consol shifter, ecoboost & 3:55 gears although I doubt that has anything to do with the problem. On the front of the shifter handle there's a 3" bar that has to be depressed to shift gears but it seems as if somethings blocking it.

I don't know if it's electronic or not but I'm waiting till later this morning to call the Ford dealership to come & get it although I don't think the service dept is open on weekends.

The truck is sitting on level ground and worked fine when I parked it 2 hours earlier

Never heard of this problem before.

94-F150-10

Dumb question but are you pushing the brake?

Sheldon

Yep, I was pushing the brake pedal, and no, it wasn't a dumb question.

SultanGris

Do you have a brake light out? I heard that will trigger the lock to stay locked, a Damn stupid design if you ask me. I think the owners manual says how to bypass it.

Robob

Check for any blown brake lights, if there are none look in your manual on how to disable the brake shift interlock switch I believe they call it, it may be under neutral safety switch too

CAPTAIN_MATH

Sometimes the steering wheel can lock and give you some difficulty shifting out of park. Try turning the steering wheel hard right then hard left while attempting to shift out of park. I've even had to wiggle the wheel sometimes.

Sheldon

OK, I fixed the problem...for now, and thanks to all for your suggestions.

I removed the top of the center console around the shift lever and down inside, beside the shifter lever on the passenger side, there's a small metal pin. With the truck running and the brake pedal applied, I pushed the pin down with a screwdriver and that released the shifter and allowed it to work properly. When I pushed the pin down there's an audible click so I'm assuming that would rule out any blown fuses.

Normally, it appears when the shifter handle is squeezed it causes this pin to go down and unlocks it from the park position but for some reason it wouldn't go down.

There still has to be a reason the pin jammed so I'll be heading to the Ford dealer 1st thing Monday morning.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

golfer

Yes , that would be a stupid design.

The brake lights themselves have nothing to do with the shift interlock.

It's the brake on/off switch ( BOO ) that supplies a control signal to the shift interlock solenoid as well activate the brake lamps. This type of setup has been similarly used by many vehicle manufacturers for years.

If both the brake lamps and the shift interlock are not fuctioning then it's related to the BOO and/or it's associated ciruit.


Yes , the proceedure is outlined in the manual ( at least up to the 2012 model )

Roget

I also read this section (check the fuses then here is the workaround) and I thought it was weird - almost like Ford knows its a regular issue, but for their own reasons would rather publish a workaround than redesign a flawed system?

i8iridium

iTrader: (1)

I don't think that was the intention of writing the procedure. The bypass would primarily be used if you needed to move/tow the truck if the battery was completely dead or involved in an accident where the electrical system was compromised.