2003 Mazda B3000
3.0 V6
276,000 miles

The past few days, when I shift to Park, sometimes the truck will stay in reverse (the reverse lights will still be on). With the dash showing it's in Park, reverse lights will be on, and when I shift to R(everse), the reverse lights are still on. Other times it's fine, but it may take a few shifts in and out of Park to get it to stay in Park.

Of course, if it's in Reverse (or the truck thinks it is), I can't start the vehicle. I can start it in Neutral, however, or start it after finally getting it to get into Park.

My first guess is that the transmission is going out, but it crossed my mind that it could possibly be one of the position sensors. Do these symptoms point more to the transmission or a sensor? How could I troubleshoot further to diagnose?

 

All Ranger transmissions are mechanical shifts, in your case a Column shifter that uses a cable to shift transmission into it's various positions, no sensors or electronics involved

Common issue on Ford Trucks with column shifter is a couple of screws coming loose under the dash, this causes looseness in shifter and won't allow full travel back to Park.

Google: Ford Ranger loose shifter video

Other things that can happen is a broken shift tube, or a bad cable sheath, sheath splits so cable travel is limited, look at cable where it comes out of firewall and then bends back to transmission linkage.

 

Thank you!! I will look into this tomorrow. "Looseness in shifter" is a perfect description of my symptoms. I'll update with any progress that I make.

 

I looked into this today, and the two hex screws under my dash are tight and snug, but it still feels like a "loose screw" type of issue. I'm going to get a second hand to do some shifting while I look at it further under the dash and under the hood. Are there any other key points that can be loose?

 

The shift tube, but it is inside the steering column, lower end can break
There are videos you can look at to see where to "feel" around to see if it is loose/broken

Cable sheath issue would be more common than shift tube