1991 Crown Vic wont come out of drive.

[coltpython52]

Ok so I am a noob. First and foremost I love Crown Vics and Mercs. I personally really dont like driving anything else. That being said I have a 1991 Ford Crown Vic that has gone crazy on me. I was driving one day and it would not go into park. It would go into all of the other gears, but it would not park at all. As I was thinking I need to put this thing into neutral and use the parking brake so I can get the keys out and move the car the shifter broke. What I mean by broke is that it moves on the column like its no longer connected. It moves up and down with no pressure and will not put the car into any gear. I cannot get my car to start or do anything at all. I dont know if it is the shifter tube that is broken, the steering column, or even the transmission cable, or a combination of the three. Is there anyone that might have any suggestions of what may be wrong so i can get this thing running. Other than that this car is a dream.

[Djtb78]

Fairly new also but I'll give it a try. Sounds like your linkage came loose just have someone else sit in the car and move the gear selector while you watch. Under the hood you should see a coupler moving back n forth. Next to it would be a silver rod running under the car . Slide that coupler over the rod put the gear selector in park,pull the silver rod up towards you and tighten the coupler . Might wanna have your help hold it in park. Good luck dude

[coltpython52]

Thanks man... I will give it a shot, and let you know what happens. Thanks again.

[marquisman]

Your car has a cable operated gear selector. Its common for the bolt that connects the cable to the shifter to come loose. I had this happen on my old 91 wagon but, mine fell out completely. If you poke your head under the dash, locate the cable and shifter. There should be a flat headed torx bit bolt. Make sure its tight. Im willing to bet, your gear shifter is somewhat sloppy, right? lol

[coltpython52]

Now it is. Prior to it was kind of tight. If I selected drive it would show that it was on in neutral on the actual gauge on the dash.

[marquisman]

Then I would say, check that bolt. If its loose, it only takes a moment with a torx bit driver to tighten it up. Personally, I would remove the bolt and put lock-tite on it. There is a thread about this somewhere on here.

[coltpython52]

Ok I will search for the thread. Thanks alot man.

[Lincolnmania]

could also be a broken shifter tube

[VicCrownVic]

Then I would say, check that bolt. If its loose, it only takes a moment with a torx bit driver to tighten it up. Personally, I would remove the bolt and put lock-tite on it. There is a thread about this somewhere on here.

Solid advice there, I've come across a few threads that mention this as a common problem. T30 torx bit should work.

If that seems ok I've also come across a few treads that mention this:

could also be a broken shifter tube

If it ends up being the shift tube is broken make sure the new one comes with new bushings (most, if not all, that I have seen do) or that you get some separately.

See this thread, *Update-on-key-cylinder-Not-good*, for details on what happens to those bushings when the wear out.
Basically when they get messed up and move out of place they cause your key to get stuck in the ignition.
13mm deep well socket will work for dropping the steering column once all the surrounding stuff is out of the way.

[coltpython52]

OK cool Thanks I will check that out. I am off tomorrow so I will have all day to do that.

[coltpython52]

So me and the mechanic I was working with got the shifter tube on. I found that the it had actually broken the shifter tube in the middle which sucked. After we got it on and all we can still not get the car into park. We can get it in neutral and get it to start from there, but it wont go into park. He did something with the transmission shifter cable, and he thinks that the cable itself is the issue. I made some calls but the cable is not made anymore by ford and none of the junk yards have one that will fit this car. My question is can I buy one of the aftermarket high performance shifter cable to hook up to my transmission. Will there be a big difference from the stock one. What should I look out for.

[VicCrownVic]

Everywhere that I have looked (online) for that cable has been around $100-$120+

In post #7 in this thread: bushing-replacement-on-shift-tube-now-new-problem I have links to what I found on Ebay for this cable.
I don't know enough to answer any of the other questions but I'm sure others will chime in.

[VicCrownVic]

Also, not that this helps, but that sounds like the opposite of what mine does, I can shift in to P RN(D) but not D or 1.

The shift tube moves properly and the trans shift lever moves properly with the cable disconnected when shifted by hand. The cable does not move with each movement of the shift tube like it should.