Yesterday after l came home from football practice my truck would not shift into park, so l drove it around the block twice and then it worked, l figured something may have just been stuck or something.

Today when l drove to school, it went into park just fine.

When l dropped a friend off at his house l put my truck in park just fine to chill at his house for a little bit, but when l came back home it would not go into park.

This is the order of my gears:

Park
Reverse
Neutral
Over-Drive
Drive
2nd
1st

It will also not go into 1st gear. They maybe have something to do with one another because they are the very top and very bottom gears, respectively.


It drives just like it always has since I've owned it (since june or so), nothing out of the ordinary happened.

l have it in Neutral with the E-Brake on right now... but l do not wanna have to keep it like that...





Any clue why my 1988 Ford Ranger XLT with four wheel drive wo not go into Park?

sounds like the linkage is sticking alittle and/or needs adjustment. if u have a few basic wrenches & common sense, u will be able to do it, it is a very simple process. just make sure u block the wheels when u try it because u will be popping the truck in & out of gear & with u under it, that can get hairy. to start, find the linkage cable & follow it down to the transmission. from there u will see the way its operated. if ur currently stuck in reverse (can not get it in park), try using ur thumb to push on the linkage bar, l bet it will pop in for ya. from there, make the correct adjustment on the cable nut. depends on if u need to pull or push on it to get it in gear before u can tell which way the adjustment nut goes. if u decide to take it to a shop, do not let them tell u the tranny is fried. this is a common & simple problem. esspecially on older trucks such as yours. good luck.

According to the Haynes auto repair manual for your year truck, your linkages to be adjusted.
Go to Auto zone or Discount auto parts store & pick up a copy of
a Haynes Repair manual for ford ranger pick-ups 1993 thru 2000, all models Also Includes 1994 thru 2000 Mazda B2300, B2500,B300 &
B4000. ( The ford ranger & the mazda are the same truck)