We stopped for gas in Albuquerque, NM. When I shifted the transmission into D, there was a LOT of play in the shift lever and I had to play with the lever to make sure it was in gear.. When we stopped for the night, I couldn’t get the engine to start. I figured there was something wrong with the cable where it attaches to the transmission and the gear selector wasn’t engaging in Park.
I crawled under the motorhome to inspect the cable where it attaches to the transmission. There wasn’t anything lose, but the cable had a lot of play and wasn’t entering into the Park detent. I had the wife move the shift lever while I watched the transmission cable. The selector on the transmission would move a little, but wasn’t going into Park. I manually moved it into Park and the engine started right up.
Not seeing anything out of the ordinary on the transmission, I figured the problem had to be under the dash. When I started to climb under the dash, I found a bolt laying on the carpet, HUM, I bet this has something to do with my problem. I was able to crawl beside the drivers seat and get my head beside the brake pedal with a flashlight. I could look up at the bottom of the steering column where the U-joint is, Above that, I could see where a bolt was missing from the bottom of the shift lever plate. AH HUH…
There are supposed to be two bolts that hold the plate to the bottom of the shift tube. One bolt had fallen out and the other was very lose and ready to fall out. Thats why there was so much play in the shift lever. I reinstalled the bolts and re-tightened everything and we were good to go.
Before writing this short article, I was googling photos and images to see if I could find something that gave you a better idea of where these bolts and plate were located on the column. I found a video of a Ford Ranger that had the exact same problem. The bottom of the steering column in the video looks a little different, but will give you a good idea where its at on an F53.
I had that EXACT problem in my old 1995 Ford Aerostar. For got CHEAP and didn’t include lock washers. A simple addition of two star washers fixed my Aerostar for the 8 years that I had it after that incident.
Hello,
I am having similar issues, I will try this advice and fix.
Thank you for posting this and helping a fellow DYI’er.
All the best to you and your journeys!!
Anyone know the exact size bolt I am missing one an haven’t found it so replacement
I cant seem to get one of the bolts in and i keep pushing on the plate but i cant seem to find the hole and it wont go in what do i do