“Transmission Not in Park” message when shifting into gear

[jasonrgreen]

I have a 2018 Max Limited with 33,000 miles. Recently I am getting a “Transmission not in Park” message when I shift into Drive or Reverse. Sometimes it is just the one message and other times it keeps flashing, especially when coming to a stop. Another thing I noticed was at the car wash when I switched into N, it said that I had to hit M to stay in Neutral. That has not happened before. Lastly, a couple of times it slammed back into Park right after I took off the break to move. Any ideas?

 

[GixxerJasen]

Take it to your dealer and have them pull the error codes. One of the issues when I had my transmission rebuilt was a bunch of park errors that they had in there. I bet yours is full of them too.

 

[BigOleFordFan]

This recently happened on one of my other vehicles ('23 Caddy Esc). Turns out there is a sensor in the trans that can go wacky & needs to be replaced, and of course that means a trip to a stealership for a somewhat expensive repair & reset job, UNLESS of course you have an ESP, which should cover it, sans the deductible...

We have a 100K/5 yr warranty, and the tech told me the cash price would have been about $900

 

[LokiWolf]

These messages are different, and different cases. Let's discuss the normal one first. - EDIT: They might not be different cases, and actually related, now that I think through it more.

The Neutral message is 100% normal. To remain in Neutral you acknowledge it by pressing M. Our 2020 Expedition did that, and so does my 21 F150. That is 100% Normal. Honestly not sure why you haven't seen that. Was the engine on or off?

So, the Not in park message is typically triggered when a door/Hood/Rear Hatch are open and you shift in to drive. This can ALSO trigger the Stay in N message FYI. Random, close everything again. Hood, Doors, Hatch. Sometimes something is hung up.

Just a thought.

 

[bb37]

To remain in Neutral you acknowledge it by pressing M.

So, what's supposed to happen at the end of the car wash's conveyor? I think you have to apply the brakes to shift from Neutral to Drive. Meanwhile, the conveyor is chucking out another car into your bumper. What procedure should be used to drive away from the car wash? I had this problem with my 2020 Edge and never figured out an elegant and fool-proof (with me the fool ) solution.

 

[Hellwig]

So, what's supposed to happen at the end of the car wash's conveyor? I think you have to apply the brakes to shift from Neutral to Drive. Meanwhile, the conveyor is chucking out another car into your bumper. What procedure should be used to drive away from the car wash? I had this problem with my 2020 Edge and never figured out an elegant and fool-proof (with me the fool ) solution.

I never get such a warning message during my carwash when transmission is on neutral status. At the end, I always slightly push the brake pedal and put tranny back to D. My vehicle is 2024.

 

[LokiWolf]

So, what's supposed to happen at the end of the car wash's conveyor? I think you have to apply the brakes to shift from Neutral to Drive. Meanwhile, the conveyor is chucking out another car into your bumper. What procedure should be used to drive away from the car wash? I had this problem with my 2020 Edge and never figured out an elegant and fool-proof (with me the fool ) solution.

I NEVER take any of my vehicles through this type of Carwash. So my experience is putting vehicles in N to move them or have them settle on wheel stops before I put them back in park and jack them up. So my door is open most of the time when I get the message. So I think that is what is triggering it. I think that is the OP's issue. I think something is telling the Truck that a door is open or another condition is not being met to make it think it is ready for movement.

 

[bb37]

The "press M to stay in Neutral" message came up every time I moved my 2020 Edge's gear selector to N and tried to leave it there while I took my foot off the brake pedal with doors closed and engine running. Once I pressed M, the gear selector was locked and wouldn't move. I would have to tap the brakes to release the lock. This seems to be exactly what the OP described in the second half of his post. Looks like @Hellwig has experienced this, too.

As for automatic car washes, they are a necessity in my part of the world. City ordinance where I live prohibits car washing in areas where the run-off might end up in city sanitary or storm sewers. And, touchless or "laser" washes are very rare.

 

[Fizzy]

Not allowed to wash your own vehicles with soap at your home here too. Reason being we have blue-ribbon trout rivers here, and the storm run off drains (where the soapy water ends up) eventually empties into the the rivers. So everyone washes at a self wash/automatic wash venue.

 

[LokiWolf]

The "press M to stay in Neutral" message came up every time I moved my 2020 Edge's gear selector to N and tried to leave it there while I took my foot off the brake pedal with doors closed and engine running. Once I pressed M, the gear selector was locked and wouldn't move. I would have to tap the brakes to release the lock. This seems to be exactly what the OP described in the second half of his post. Looks like @Hellwig has experienced this, too.

As for automatic car washes, they are a necessity in my part of the world. City ordinance where I live prohibits car washing in areas where the run-off might end up in city sanitary or storm sewers. And, touchless or "laser" washes are very rare.

Actually @Hellwig said... "I never get such a warning message during my carwash when transmission is on neutral status."

 

[bmpcamry09]

This error in my experience of working on these is almost always caused by a faulty hood latch sensor, which requires the whole latch to be replaced. Does the hood open emblem pop up at the same time? Some times that message gets burried in the EVIC and you might not even see it.

I've also seen shorts in the door harness wiring cause this issue. But those usually trigger some communication codes in the BCM.

Pull for codes too to help point you in the right direction. If there is a fault in the Canbus a good scan tool will catch it.

 

[LokiWolf]

This error in my experience of working on these is almost always caused by a faulty hood latch sensor, which requires the whole latch to be replaced. Does the hood open emblem pop up at the same time? Some times that message gets burried in the EVIC and you might not even see it.

I've also seen shorts in the door harness wiring cause this issue. But those usually trigger some communication codes in the BCM.

Pull for codes too to help point you in the right direction. If there is a fault in the Canbus a good scan tool will catch it.

Yep, That was my thoughts also. Something "open".

 

[jasonrgreen]

Update: This issue has now been resolved, but not sure how. Research told me it could be a door sensor, a bad gear shift, a bad gear shift module, transmission sensor, bad wiring to the door sensor, or hood latch. I drove down to Oregon this last Friday to pick up my son from college. On the way down, I started hearing a growling that got worse and worse the farther I drove. After stopping at a rest stop to do a little research, I figured it was my left front wheel bearing. It was late, but was able to get a call into a small town Ford dealer before they closed they were able to fit me in Saturday morning. Sure enough, it was the wheel bearing. I knew they were over booked and I wanted to get back home after an unexpected overnight stay, so didn't ask them to look into the "Transmission Not in Park" message, except to pull the codes and let me know what they found out. They checked the codes after the wheel bearing replacement, and found nothing. However, the message has not come back since replacing the wheel bearing. Maybe a break sensor issue?

 

[LokiWolf]

Update: This issue has now been resolved, but not sure how. Research told me it could be a door sensor, a bad gear shift, a bad gear shift module, transmission sensor, bad wiring to the door sensor, or hood latch. I drove down to Oregon this last Friday to pick up my son from college. On the way down, I started hearing a growling that got worse and worse the farther I drove. After stopping at a rest stop to do a little research, I figured it was my left front wheel bearing. It was late, but was able to get a call into a small town Ford dealer before they closed they were able to fit me in Saturday morning. Sure enough, it was the wheel bearing. I knew they were over booked and I wanted to get back home after an unexpected overnight stay, so didn't ask them to look into the "Transmission Not in Park" message, except to pull the codes and let me know what they found out. They checked the codes after the wheel bearing replacement, and found nothing. However, the message has not come back since replacing the wheel bearing. Maybe a break sensor issue?

Nope, they opened and closed the hood, and most likely cleared the condition.