2004 F150 Auto tranny

The gear shift moves freely when brake is pressed like normal but the tranny never comes out of park. The reverse lights also dont work. Both symptoms happened at the same time.

I checked the fuses and even swapped to be sure, both fuse 14 for the reverse lights/brake interlock solenoid and fuse 33 for the shift solenoid.

My diagnosis is a bad shift solenoid but I want to be dure because its my friends sister in laws truck and I dont want her to spend more money than she needs.

Also any good links for the location of this solenoid or even a DIY?

 

sounds like shift cable between the shift lever and transmission has broke or come undone. block the wheels and crawl under the truck with the key in the on position and engine off, have someone push the brake and shift the truck and watch the cable on the side of the transmission to see if it moves. if it does not your cable has either broke or come unhooked from the shift lever.

 

Would this also cause the reverse lights to not work?

 

yes this will cause your reverse lights not to work, the switch for the lights is at the transmission not in the dash with the shifter. if your cable is bad and it won't come out of park your back up lights won't work until you can get it into the reverse position at the trans.

 

most definitely. The signal for reverse comes from the tranny. Just from your description I am 90% as well that your linkage is unhooked at the tranny. Easy fix. Is your truck a column or floor shift? The linkage is attached to the tranny with a ball joint that can be popped out if something hits it right so you probably just need to pop it back in place. If the linkage is damaged and needs to be and you have a floor shifter, I have a spare NIB linkage in my garage that I am not using because I accidentally ordered 2.