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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Trucks / December 2008Help, Desperate - Stuck auto trans shifter
I have a '91 E150 Ford van /w 4.9L fuel injected 6-cyl and auto trans w/ overdrive. I just replaced starter and am bypassing the key starter switch on the steering column because the little nylon rack/pinion gear stripped. I'm only bypassing the starter circuit (hot to starter relay), not the keyed power on/off circuits, which still work ok ...or so I believe. Anyway, after much hassle, I got the new starter motor in and got the van started. Now, Shift lever is stuck in park and I have absolutely no idea why. I can see whole linkage from inside van (eng cowling off) and it all jiggles around, but will not budge out of Park. WTF!? There were no problems with it before. Van runs great. Now it's a brick and I can't go anywhere. Is there some sort of interlock that locks shift into Park? If so, can I disable or bypass it? notbob ....completely baffled. > I have a '91 E150 Ford van /w 4.9L fuel injected 6-cyl and auto trans w/ > overdrive. I just replaced starter and am bypassing the key starter switch [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > notbob ....completely baffled. Not sure about the '91 E150 but my '97 Explorer has a selenoid that locks the shift lever into Park if the brake lights burn out or if the brake switch is bad. I think I was able to overide it by turning the ignition key almost to the Run position, but not to Start and then shifted to Neutral and then started the engine. Bottom line is to check the fuse for the selenoid, the brake lights, and the brake switch. I'm not quite sure what you are bypassing but you might not be deactivating the selenoid, assuming you have one. > I have a '91 E150 Ford van /w 4.9L fuel injected 6-cyl and auto trans w/ > overdrive. I just replaced starter and am bypassing the key starter switch [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > notbob ....completely baffled. Do your brake lights work? >I have a '91 E150 Ford van /w 4.9L fuel injected 6-cyl and auto trans w/ >overdrive. I just replaced starter and am bypassing the key starter switch [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >notbob ....completely baffled. Your problem is the little stripped gear in the switch lock. It mechanically locks the lever in Park until it is rotated forward. The only fix is a new gear which is not terribly expensive or take the column down to where you can disconnect the linkage. The '91 did not have the brake pedal interlock. Lugnut > Your problem is the little stripped gear in the switch lock. It mechanically > locks the lever in Park until it is rotated forward. The only fix is a new gear > which is not terribly expensive or take the column down to where you can > disconnect the linkage. The '91 did not have the brake pedal interlock. Sounds about right. I'm pretty sure the gear is stripped, although I can get full power to all systems by turning ignit switch lock till IP lights up and jumping the starter relay, but do not feel usual resistence from wheel/starter rod. Does the starter rod go to a starter switch lower in the steering column? Can I just remove stupid little gear and be done with it? Where can I access this mystery linkage? I bought old fashioned manual start button to run to relay, and can start no problem. Do I have to drill out the key lock pin to remove lock and access gear? My piece of crap Chilton manual does not have detailed info on that part of steering column. BTW, who makes the official OEM shop manual for this vehicle? Helm? Ford? Thank you for your help. I'll get back on this. nb > Your problem is the little stripped gear in the switch lock. It mechanically > locks the lever in Park until it is rotated forward. The only fix is a new gear > which is not terribly expensive or take the column down to where you can > disconnect the linkage. The '91 did not have the brake pedal interlock. Got steering disassembled down to rack/pinion gears and linkage rod. The gears/linkage appear to have no connection with PRND12 selector lever. I can now move ignition link rod up/dwn by hand, as key switch and gears have been completely removed. Seems the ignition switch a foot down the column is the starter problem. I can still turn ignit pwr on/off by moving rod up/dwn, but still no starter circuit. The pinion gear is ok (brass), but last tooth on rack is worn (pot metal) and no doubt why key/ignit swtch hangs up at full turn. The PRND12 selector is still jammed in park. The interlock must be something else. I'm still looking. nb > full turn. The PRND12 selector is still jammed in park. The interlock must > be something else. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe linkage gear shift linkage is hung up. I may have pulled something when I used tranny link arm for leverage while changing the starter motor. I remember old 3 spd on column shifters of both chevy and ford pickups had a tendency to jam up sometimes and you hadda go under hood and unlock 'em. Tomorrow's another day. nb Well, it only took a week. Good thing I'm retired. Turns out, after disassembling half the steering column, ignition, and tranny linkage, the problem was in a spot I puzzled over 4 days ago. Some square pot-metal bar thingie right under the rack/pinion cluster-f*ck assy that looks like it's been snapped off at some point and may have attached itself to the r/p assy, somehow. Can't tell cuz the part that broke off probably fell down the steering column housing and no online service (AlldataDIY sucks!) that I've found has detailed enough assy drwings. Whatever it is, I've isolated it and am going to bypass the whole damn key/ignition/starter nightmare in the steering column head and epoxy the bar in place so it doesn't slide down and lock the shift lever again and proceed to start the vehicle via a screwdriver and large ballpeen hammer. Having owned a few Fords, I know they are basically very reliable vehicles. Having also worked on all of them and being a mech eng tech, I also know Ford engineers are the biggest bunch of whackos to ever drag a pencil across a t-square. The person, or committee, who dreamed up this cockamamie design musta been on heavy drugs ...all of 'em! If I could find 'em, I'd drag the whole team down the road behind a 1974 Dodge Van, the best truck ever made. BTW.... thanks for nothin'! ;) nb |
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