Lately (Last 10k miles or so) I get an occasional thud that sounds like a backfire. It generally happens when placing the vehicle into drive or reverse and releasing brake. I can't recall it ever happening at higher RPMs.

Also, has anyone had a problem with not being able to get the shift arm out of park without "tapping" the brake pedal?

Truck is an 01 with about 75k miles.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

Is the thud coming from the undercarriage? If so is it directly under you or does it sound like it's more to the rear? You may have a problem with your u-joint. You might want to post the question in the transmission forum.

I'm confused with the other statement. As a safety precaution, the brake pedal must be depressed before any late model vehicle will go out of park .

 

Will post "backfire" type sound in trans as suggested. As for the shift question, if I step on the brake pedal, the shift will only come back towards me a fraction before it "locks" If I jiggle the arm a bit, while keeping the brake pedal down, it will ultimately move back far enough to put it into drive.

Does this make more sense?