Engaging Transmission Question

Do you use your parking brake? If not it’s the parking pawl that is disengaging. It is the tiny little pin that holds your vehicle in park, that is why one should always use their parking brake. If you do use your parking brake try shifting it into gear then release the brake. Just my thoughts

Jakob1972

Do you use your parking brake? If not it’s the parking pawl that is disengaging. It is the tiny little pin that holds your vehicle in park, that is why one should always use their parking brake. If you do use your parking brake try shifting it into gear then release the brake. Just my thoughts

Yes I do. I have my foot on the brake pedal before or after releasing the parking brake and it still does it. They kept telling me at the dealer that when they test drove it they could not replicate the issue, they are not the smartest I'm afraid. I told them it would be hard to since it is only while putting it into gear. After the 4th time of telling them that I finally had someone that understood.

I had a 1997 Contour and the wife would just shove it into park. Our driveway is at a small incline and the car naturally will roll back a little without the parking brake applied. So after about 78,000 miles she started having to giggle the shifter to get it to move. So, needless to say, after paying $400 for diagnostics and repairs all of our cars parking brakes are engaged before taking the foot off of the brake. The worst part was, since the car was 10 years old and wasn't made anymore, the part was obsolete the shop found out after figuring out what the issue was.

Thanks

Jasper Weed

Yes I do. I have my foot on the brake pedal before or after releasing the parking brake and it still does it. They kept telling me at the dealer that when they test drove it they could not replicate the issue, they are not the smartest I'm afraid. I told them it would be hard to since it is only while putting it into gear. After the 4th time of telling them that I finally had someone that understood.

I had a 1997 Contour and the wife would just shove it into park. Our driveway is at a small incline and the car naturally will roll back a little without the parking brake applied. So after about 78,000 miles she started having to giggle the shifter to get it to move. So, needless to say, after paying $400 for diagnostics and repairs all of our cars parking brakes are engaged before taking the foot off of the brake. The worst part was, since the car was 10 years old and wasn't made anymore, the part was obsolete the shop found out after figuring out what the issue was.

Thanks

Dang I am Glad you always use the Parking Brake, (my biggest pet peeve) i hate when I am at a gas station or Parking lot and people park their cars and as they are getting out it rolls a little.
How long are you letting it idle in Park before you shift it into gear? have you tried different times, I am wondering if the torque converter is building pressure wile at idle. and it is making a hard shift with that built up pressure.

I have a 23 Badlands and never have this issue. I have 36K miles on it.

I don’t have a Sport, but I do also drive an Explorer Timberline which I believe has a similar set up. Sitting at just over 10 K miles with no hard shifts. I will definitely keep an eye out for this issue. Thanks for posting

I just took a look and it looks like you’re not alone with this issue. Potential issues could be a faulty brake light switch, malfunctioning shift interlock solenoid or low transmission fluid. I would start with the fluid first. Fluid, sniff test. That’s easy and you can trust yourself with that one. Please keep us posted.

I have a ‘23 Badlands and haven’t encountered this, not that I can remember anyway. I got it at about 19k miles and have it up to 42k. I’m also a fan of using the parking break, but my fiancé always makes fun of me for it but it is what it is lol.

The only other thing I could think of attempting is another step of using the e-break, which was something they thought us at the Off-Rodeo. I’m not sure if you do this already, since you mentioned you use the parking break, but basically the way they said to park was, when coming to a stop (to park from driving), before shifting gears, obviously press the break pedal down, then pull the e-break. Then, before letting off the break pedal, shift to neutral, and once your car is in neutral you can let off the break pedal. With that done, you place the vehicle in park without needing to press the break pedal (since at this point the e-break is engaged). This allows the vehicle to “settle” so that (hopefully) when shifting back into drive, it won’t clunk.
Then when you go to drive, you press the break pedal while in park, disengage the e-break, then shift to drive before letting off the break pedal. I’ve done this ever since and haven’t had any issues.

I hope that all makes sense and is helpful, sorry to hear you’re experiencing this and I hope you’re able to get it resolved!