Suggestions

That could easily be a blown fuse problem. IIRC the brake/gear selector interlock is powered by the brake light circuit.

She is probably right so don't give her much grief yet! All new cars have the interlock so that you have to have your foot on the brake to shift out of park. On many of them if you don't have power for the brake lights you don't have power for the interlock release.

Steve B.

Agreed. Fix the brake light problem and the interlock problem will get fixed too. The interlock is forcing the driver to have their foot on the brakes before engagin the tranny and a blown fuse will disable the interlock in a fail-safe mode.

All the more reason to avoid automatics. Don't have those problems with a real manual transmission... Hate automatics... Ick!

BTW: '97 Chev. pickup dash removal??? Anyone???

Thanks to all who have posted answers. We will add a selection of fuses to the toolbox, and have a go at it on Friday.

IT's really not a problem. If people read their owners manual it explains how to get around the interlock if it's not working.

Good point. I suspect few actually read those manuals until some problem occurs...possibly laziness, but also an indication of how poorly some of the manuals are conceived and organized.

Sis brought over the owner's manual yesterday. At least it had the fuse location chart in it, but didnt say exactly which type of fuse it uses. (I find there are two types of blade fuses on the shelves, so I bought both).

The trailer wiring is suspect, as I am told that horses or other animals on the farm may have been nibbling at the external wiring runs.

The "failsafe" operation on this Ford is apparently not shared by all new vehicles. I haven't owned a Ford in years, and expect that trend to continue.

So it did release the magic smoke from under the dash...

No, apparently it didnt.....at least, not from the trailer connection. The wiring was okay. Animals, particular some cattle, often will gnaw on exposed wiring, such as the trailer connector plug. But, it turned out that this was not at all the case.

There were no fuses blown, and I looked at every one of them. The ones associated with the interlock were also checked with a VOM, just to be sure there were no hairline failures.

I asked if anyone had tried to "strongarm" the shifter, which can damage it and prevent shifting, but the answer was no.

At this point, the cause is unresolved.

Unfortunately, the lights now days are often controlled by the computer. It used to be a simple matter to wire in extra lights, or for cop cars to hook up flashers to the factory lights, etc. For some of the new cars they specifically warn that you cannot do that stuff because it will mess up the whole computer controlled light system. The newer Chevy impala's have a warning about tapping into the lights to make them flash on police vehicles - it's a no no.

Not sure about that particular vehicle but from my memory I think the general solution to interlock problems is to turn the key to the UNlock position, that's the first click. This is not the ON position, it merely unlocks the steering wheel and does not turn on anything electrical. When its unlocked you should be able to move the shifter out of Park without interference from the interlock mechanism. Then you put it in Neutral and start the car (you should have your foot on the brake for safety). That is typically how you get around a messed up interlock. May not be how your truck is set up however. It surely should be in the owners manual somewhere but might be hard to find among all the safety warnings.

In this case the Furd has a factory setup for towing. The lighting is apparently not the problem

My sister called AAA to go out and tow the Ford 150 pickup into the shop. It had hung in Park.

The driver of the tow truck just manhandled the shift lever and finally managed to free it. (I had been warned not to do this as it can bend linkage parts).

The Ford dealership just shuffled their feet, looked at the sky, and said "It seems to be okay now".

Not very satisfactory behavior from the Ford, but then, I dont buy Fords.

I don't think that any of the "big guys" do very well in the warrantee fraud department (presuming the "late model" should still be under warrantee)). I have GM blacklisted permanently for a little warrantee fraud incident I had with them (a non defective clutch does not fail at