02 Expedition Transmission Will not shift backward from drive through park.

[harreil]

First time poster,

After reviewing several transmission related issues I cannot find a similar problem and am hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

02 Expedition 5.4L Automatic 4x4.

The other day after fueling and shifting into drive, I could feel something snap and come apart. Fortunately I was already in drive and was able to drive home as normal.

I already have the dash apart. I have confirmed that the torx bolts at the end of the shifter barrel appear to be tight, I put a t-30 on them and couldn't get them tighter but there isn't much room.

I crawled under the vehicle and was able to shift the transmission back into park, and through each gear. From this point I can start the vehicle and shift through each gear back to drive and 2nd.

However the shifter becomes complete slop at this point if I try to shift back through neutral, reverse and park and will not go backward through these gears.

I crawled back under the vehicle and manually set to park ( I chocked all the wheels ) then had my wife shift from park slowly back to drive again. I could visually confirm cable movement and proper shifting at the transmission. However watching go backward to park, the cable would move substantially back toward the transmission, however the transmission would not shift back ( up? ) toward park.

My next thought is to drop the steering column and take a look toward the base of the shifting barrel to see if I can find anything broken.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thank you for your time and help.

 

[harreil]

Well I managed to figure out it was the shift linkage cable, replaced with a pioneer cable from autozone. Other people claimed it fit their similar model year fords.

https://www.autozone.com/drivetrain/transmission-cable-shift-a-t/p/pioneer-automatic-transmission-cable-shift-ca-1261/463096_0_0

However upon completing the installation today, I can now row through all gears, except it doesn't quite push far back enough for the shifter linkage to click into park. I have moved the yellow adjustment slider all the way to both ends to make sure I had maximum push back for the cable against the linkage and it just wont go quite far enough.

Rechecked the torx bolts under the steering column and they are tight. I installed the cable same way as I removed the old one. Is the cable just not a good fit and I need to find a different one, or does anyone have any other ideas? I hate to take this one out, with the differential axle being in the way its impossible to remove a cable without breaking it at the pinch clamp.

Also does anyone know what this white piece is for in the image below, it slides in and out but doesnt seem to do anything.