Ford PU - won't shift out of Park.

Hi,

I have a 1994 Ford 250 Pickup Truck. I have an issue that has been getting worse and worse over the last several months.

When I go to use my PU, it will start... however, it will not allow me to shift out of Park. At the beginning (several months ago) I found that all I needed to do was step on the brake a little more firmly while shifting.

As I said, it's been getting progressively worse and worse. The last time I went through this it took 20 minutes to get the truck in Drive. I stood on the brakes, I pumped the brakes, I raced the engine a bit thinking that there might be a vacuum issue...

These days I try to leave the truck in Neutral with the E-Brake set when I park it. (Occasionally, if I'm distracted by something while I'm parking, I forget and put it in Park... aaarrrggg!)

Of course that means I can't remove the key. So, I lock the doors with the key in the ignition.

I have shop manuals for this truck but none of them describe, or even discuss, this particular situation.

How exactly are the brake and transmission lever interlocked???

What do I have to do to fix this???

Thanks

Hi Terry-woods welcome to the forum I have heard of this problem before, but not particularly related to Ford's pick up trucks. As a common problem this is usually solved by replacing the brake switch