Sport to Park @ 45mph, why on earth is there no lockout?!

Plaidfinger

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So last week, I went to shift up from sport to normal as I was done having fun and wanted to cruise. Like butter, the shifter went right past normal into neutral, causing me to rev very high. quite the scare.

Well, today the same thing happened, only it slipped directly into park, locking the shifter into park at 45mph. Got to listen to the parking pawl banging around while having to roll out of moving traffic as I tried to get the shifter back into drive. finally came to a stop and managed to shift back into gear. Anyone else ever do this? With under 1k miles on this Ranger I am quite worried about the long term ramifications of this few moments of terror. Why on earth does this thing allow the shifter to move into reverse or park while moving??
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Big Blue

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Something must have hung up with the interlock trigger for that to happen. You need to get it checked out.
 
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Plaidfinger

Plaidfinger

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Something must have hung up with the interlock trigger for that to happen. You need to get it checked out.
It shouldn’t allow the shifter to move past neutral, right?
 
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AutobotXJ

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Do you press the button on the shifter when you go from S to D?
i slammed my transmission from neutral to park once in my old Cherokee- my jeep went totally dead! Started it back up and shifted to drive anddrove fine ever since. I hope our trannys are as stout as the AW4!
Anyway, that’s when I learned not to press the button when shifting when moving.
 


UncleBob

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My first response is: 'How did move the lever? Did you reach down and just attempt to move the lever from S mode to D mode? Or did you reach down and give it a slap to move it?

I don't normally drive in S mode so this is an SWAG of what may be happening: when entering S mode, you needed to press the trigger to allow the lever to enable the movement. I just tested and that mechanism remains in the enable mode while driving in S mode. Perhaps some detent is riding on a shoulder somewhere in the mechanism. That mechanism should allow the detent to drop out when re-entering D mode and you would have to pull the trigger again to allow the transition from D-mode to Neutral. In fact, the trigger needs to be pulled to move to any position forward from Drive (N, R or P). If that mechanism has somehow gotten gummed up (or mis aligned) maybe that could cause the detent to fail to drop and allowed the action you describe. Definitely need to take it to the dealer. This is a safety concern.
 
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Plaidfinger

Plaidfinger

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My first response is: 'How did move the lever? Did you reach down and just attempt to move the lever from S mode to D mode? Or did you reach down and give it a slap to move it?

I don't normally drive in S mode so this is an SWAG of what may be happening: when entering S mode, you needed to press the trigger to allow the lever to enable the movement. I just tested and that mechanism remains in the enable mode while driving in S mode. Perhaps some detent is riding on a shoulder somewhere in the mechanism. That mechanism should allow the detent to drop out when re-entering D mode and you would have to pull the trigger again to allow the transition from D-mode to Neutral. In fact, the trigger needs to be pulled to move to any position forward from Drive (N, R or P). If that mechanism has somehow gotten gummed up (or mis aligned) maybe that could cause the detent to fail to drop and allowed the action you describe. Definitely need to take it to the dealer. This is a safety concern.
Yup, I pulled the trigger each time, assuming that was required for any shift up or down. The manual makes no mention of this at all that I saw. Sure wish I’d known that before potentially damaging my transmission!
 
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viperwolf

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Yup, I pulled the trigger each time, assuming that was required for any shift up or down. The manual makes no mention of this at all that I saw. Sure wish I’d known that before potentially damaging my transmission!
Try just pushing it up from S-D without the trigger, it should slide into Drive but lock it from going into neutral.
 

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If you push it too quickly, you can push it from S to N before the button re-engages. Surprised me a bit. I make a purposeful effort to nudge it from S to D now--no button press needed to go from S to D
 

TN Ranger

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Mine will go all the way to N from S without the button but will not allow it to go past N. Discovered this while offroad with hand on shifter and hit a large rock under water. Lock out should keep it from going into R or even P. Hope you tranny is fine.
 

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It shouldn’t allow the shifter to move past neutral, right?
Mine won't let it go past drive. The only time I don't have to compress the trigger is to go from S to D.
 
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Ranger_Pawl

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So last week, I went to shift up from sport to normal as I was done having fun and wanted to cruise. Like butter, the shifter went right past normal into neutral, causing me to rev very high. quite the scare.

Well, today the same thing happened, only it slipped directly into park, locking the shifter into park at 45mph. Got to listen to the parking pawl banging around while having to roll out of moving traffic as I tried to get the shifter back into drive. finally came to a stop and managed to shift back into gear. Anyone else ever do this? With under 1k miles on this Ranger I am quite worried about the long term ramifications of this few moments of terror. Why on earth does this thing allow the shifter to move into reverse or park while moving??
You're not alone. I use S all the time, and on several occasions when going from S to D, it felt like it was going past D and part way into N. I stop pushing before it get to N, and have not pushed it far enough to get to R, but it worries me. This all happens without engaging the button, just pushing from S to D without using the button. I might have to take it in to get evaluated.
 

Big Blue

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You're not alone. I use S all the time, and on several occasions when going from S to D, it felt like it was going past D and part way into N. I stop pushing before it get to N, and have not pushed it far enough to get to R, but it worries me. This all happens without engaging the button, just pushing from S to D without using the button. I might have to take it in to get evaluated.
How hard/fast are you guys pushing/slamming the lever from S to D that it is not engaging the catch? Maybe you wore it out. :LOL:
 

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The Ranger is the first vehicle I have ever driven that I can't push out of drive to neutral without engaging the trigger. I always though of it as a safe way to disengage from drive or reverse to neutral in an emergency situation, without risk of going to far to the opposing gear.
 
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Ranger_Pawl

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How hard/fast are you guys pushing/slamming the lever from S to D that it is not engaging the catch? Maybe you wore it out. :LOL:
No slamming here. As I mentioned, I only get partially into N before I pull back.
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