2004F150 automatic transmision.
When selecting the truck into Park it goes into reverse. All the other gearswork smoothly and normally (including reverse). The gear indicator (red needleon dash) also works accurately. But when the gear indicator says Park, it isactually in reverse gear. The truckliterally drives backwards with the column shifter in Park. As a byproduct,with the truck off, I cannot start it without first selecting the columnshifter to Neutral. I found several fixes for pre-2004 trucks, but nothing for 2004-2008models.



Thereis no play or looseness in the column shifter. The linkage at the transmissionis free of physical interference. When having someone shift through the gearson the column I can clearly see the linkage at the transmission end movingfreely, except when going from Parkto Reverse or Reverse to Park. Just flinches, instead of the obvious movementsbetween the other gears. Removing the cable from the trans I am able to shiftthe lever manually into park. While someone shifts through the gears on the column,I can see the disconnected cable moving properly. It "shifts" fromFirst all the way to Park while disconnected from the tranny. And I canmanually move the shift lever on the tranny through all the gears too. But whenconnected together, I can't get into Park. It just flinches, stays in reverse,even the backup lights are on.



I attempted to adjust the cable, but it still won't shift past reverse and into park. Is replacing the cable with a new one worth a try before bringing it to the dealer, or am I barking up the wrong tree now?

 

Look under the dash where the cable is attached, (column shifter) and see if the plate the cable hooks to is tight.

 

I know the plate your referring to (with the torx screws), but that problem is only prevelant on pre-2004 models. At any rate, everything under the dash appears solid....

 

If you give me an email, I can send you the procedure for adjusting the shifter in a pdf. I was reading it and it's kind of odd but something you should try before spending any $$. Let me know.

 

jwoolno@gmail.com

I'll try it out as soon as I get back to town

 

can you send me that pdf? nearflack@aol.com

thanks

 

That procedure taught me a lot about the cable, but did not work for my problem. I ended up replacing the shifter cable. $69.00 from Ford. Truck works perfectly now. The middle portion of the old cable, not visible until I removed it, was shredded.