98 ford ranger automatic transmission shifter cable problem

[Southenrfirewood]

I have a 98 ford ranger and it doesnt shift into first or ever want to go into park, as in I shift it into park walk away from my truck and it goes into reverse and my truck almost goes into the cannal while im launching my boat. Whats the fix for this? Is there an adjustment? Or do I have to buy a new cable? Any help would be great!

 

[holyford86]

is the shifter really loose? there are plastic bushings in the column that wear and i've seen them do that

 

[Southenrfirewood]

No, It feels tight

 

[Southenrfirewood]

It just wont let me go to first or park

 

[Brownie Mobile]

Search around there are guides ive seen for a C5 transmission which is older than what you have but it shows how to fix this sort of problem, you basically put the truck in park on the transmission it self while something is disconnected between the shifter and the tranny and you put the shifter in park and they match up, also have you tried slamming it into first or park? i have a different tranny but sometimes i dont quite make it into park and go to start it up and nothing so i just slam it back into park and im good, also you should always set your e brake when doing something like that

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

I've had 2 different customer trucks with a similar issue. The outside if the cable had been melted by the DS exhaust manifold.

Dunno if it'll help, but it doesn't hurt to pop the hood and look...

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Southenrfirewood]

ill take a look, I used to be able to slam it into park but it keeps getting worse and worse

 

[UnholyPancake]

So I know its been a little bit since you posted your question Southern, but I had the same issue your having and was able to fix it this morning. I could put my truck in "park" and it would shift into reverse, and i had to put it in "1" in order to go into drive. What I ended up having to do was drop the steering column and pull out the transmission shift tube.



Once I had the shift tube off of the steering column I noticed this:



One bolt was loose, and one was completely gone. Replaced the missing bolt, added a lock washer to both bolts, put this bad boy back in, and 2 hours from start to finish (autozone run included) my shifter is now as tight as the day I bought the truck.

Let me know if you need any help pulling the steering column, its a pretty easy process if your mechanically inclined. Hope this helps!!!

 

[Southenrfirewood]

Want to know something funny? I finally noticed the same thing when one of the bolts fell out and hit my foot. So I tightend both of them up and it solved my probelms.. except I didnt have to tear it all apart I crawled under and tightend it