Hello, my family and I are trying to fix up my grandpas old ranger and we have run into a few snags
1) if you turn the car on in park then you can’t shift out of park but if you turn it on in neutral you can shift unless you put it in park, no clue why.
2) brake pedal works but won’t return to original position
3) passenger tail light works but brake lights dont
if y’all have any idea on what to do about these I’d greatly appreciate it! Its a family heirloom and we want it drivable again, thank you and God bless

 

Welcome to the forum

You should include year and engine model in any post
1996 4.0l 2WD, automatic

1996 will have a shifter interlock solenoid that prevents shifting out of Park unless foot is on the brake pedal
Since your brake pedal is acting up and there are no brake lights I would suspect the not being able to shift out of Park is because of brake pedal issue

Can you manually pull the brake pedal up with engine off?
And does it go back down, without touching it, with engine on?
The "return" spring on the brake pedal is in the Booster and another in the Master

There is a Brake light switch under the dash with 5 wires, plunger style switch the brake pedal arm pushes it in and lets it out when pedal is pressed, it does brake lights and is also a sensor, so two switches in one

Check fuse 13 in cab fuse box, it runs the brake lights