The column shifter on my '05 is getting stuck and will not come out of park until I have done some serious wiggle action. The truck is still under warranty so I will bring it back to the stealership. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Brake lights work?

 

Yeah. I took it to the dealer and I will have to wait until next week to get it fixed.

 

Hey, I'm new to this forum and signed up after reading your post....

Wondering what happened at the dealer? did they tell you why the shifter was stuck? this just happened to me at petsmart and after some wiggling and turning the key off and on repeatedly and turning the wheel it "fixed" itself. Still rather un nerving to say the least. Is it something that can be fixed easily? This happened to us once before at the beach, we got stuck in the sand because the 4x4 wouldn't engage, and figured it was due to the sand we flung everywhere spinning, only later found out a squirrel had chewed the wiring harness. anyway, that was fixed under warranty and up until today, nothing has happened. I've got a 04 super crew with 29K miles, I love my truck and really hope this isn't anything serious. any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

 

They didn't specify why it might happen. I'm bringing it back next week to get fixed. So as of right now I don't have any answers. As soon as I get this resolved I will let you know.

 

there is a switch at the brake peddle that energizes a solenoid to release the shifter mechanisim. Sounds like that isn't working.

 

That is along the lines of what I was thinking. I told the dealership that I could wait until next week but that if it left me stranded I wanted it fixed immediately.

 

Any updates yet? I'll be taking the truck out of town in a couple weeks for work and would hate to get stranded 200 miles from home....

 

Your owner's manual should have the instructions on how to bypass the shifter interlock, should it be required. There is no reason for a vehicle top be stranded for this condition since the instructions on how to get around it shipped with every truck.

Step 1 is always to check to see if the brake lights work since the shifter interlock is activated by the brake light circuit.

If the brake lights do work but the interlock will not release, then most likely the interlock is binding, damaged, or is otherwise impaired.

If you don't have an owner's manual. download one for free from www.fleet.ford.com under the heading of MAINTENANCE.

Steve

 

Anyword on what the cause was. So far my truck has been fine but if there is some sort of problem it would be nice to know so I can be on the look out for it.

 

I had the same problem with my 03 screw. Brought it back to the dealer and they said it didn't do it to them. Must be cause I'm an idiot and don't know how to drive. Still doing it though.

 

The interlock switch was going out. It hadn't completely given up but just most of the time. It never did leave me completely stranded so that was good. It was more of an incovienence because sometimes I could get right in and it would take a few minutes of messing with it before I could get it out of park. Other times it would go in to D right off the bat. Dealer replaced it under warranty and I haven't had a problem with it since.

By the way, my brake lights did work. The switch wasn't completely bad yet.

 

There is a way to get it out of park even with a bad switch.

Turn the key to the first detent towards ON. Nothing electrical will come on. Now move the shifter to N. Start the truck with the shifter in N, and you're set until the next time you put it in park.

 

Uh, no.

He has an 05. The procedure is quite different and is described in the relevant owner's guide.

The precedure you described is for the previous generation of vehicles.

Steve

 

Already tried that and it never worked.