Potentially dangerous situation need help asap

I have a 96 ford windstar 3.8 litre engine. I had the front end jacked up to lube the tie rods. When i put the wheel back on and tried to tighten the lug nuts the wheel would spin freely. I went to check the other side and it was the same with the wheel spinning freely. I turned the car on and shifted it into drive and then back into park. The wheels are still spinning freely. Please if anybody knows what this is can you tell me so that i can take care of this as soon as possible. The car drives fine, this is the only thing that i found out about today. thanks for your help.

I don't know what to say.....I have a '96 and my front wheels don't spin freely when I have it in park.
Maybe something happened to the park "pawl"......the part that locks the transmission?
I have never tried to spin a front wheel with the transmission in anything but PARK.....so I don't know what that is like......one would expect it to turn in Neutral.

It is possible that the selector is not in sync with the transmission.....but then the Transmission Range Sensor (TRS), aka neutral safety switch would do as it's 2nd name implies.....would prevent you from STARTING the motor in any gear other than PARK or NEUTRAL.

The PARK function of the transmission is done inside the transmission....not in the switch.....the shaft that goes down into the transmission physically engages a pawl......to a gear.

The Gear select in the car connects to the Range sensor, which is connected to the shaft that goes down into the transmission.
Now, if the gear select in the car is out of sync with that, one would think it would show up in other spots, like Reverse and Drive.

So that brings us back to the physical pawel that contacts the gear inside the transmission.
Looking on AlldataDIY (requires subscription to actually read the TSBs)

There was a RECALL about that......for CERTAIN 1996 windstar vehicles.....
Recall # 96S50

BEST BET IS TO CALL YOUR LOCAL FORD DEALERSHIP, GIVE THEM YOUR VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) and have them check their computer to see if your vehicle is involved.

Parts used are E6DZ-7G101-A "Park Pawl Abutment Bracket" and 7 Quarts Mercon V transmission fluid, so they must have to drop the transmission pan.

Windstar vehicles involved (there are other FORD vehicles involved, but let's stick with windstar).
AX4S transmission (your pan says "AXOD metric") but it is a AX4S....they just used the same pan from the older version.

AX4S transmissions involved are....
Serial numbers 230388 - 243950
Also Serial Numbers 246462 - 246539
also for 3.0L version, Serial numbers 33958 - 34701

If the serial number is not in one of those ranges, they say to "release the vehicle", in other words....it is OK, however, you might check with your dealership as the Recall may have been updated.

If the serial number is within one of the ranges listed, they have the technician remove the pan from the bottom of the transmission and check the date code on the "Parking Pawl Abutment Bracket".
The pan is full of transmission fluid......so it is a messy process.

Here is a link to a picture of part of the underside of my transmission, with the pan removed

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1503291292011220610oclKHw

In the picture, the filter is on the left side......on the right side of the filter.....some tubes come out going to the right......just below them is a shaft....going to the right.....
That shaft is the "Park Rod".
Follow that shaft to the right.....and you will see a spring on the shaft.
On the right end of the spring.....is the "Parking Pawl Abutment Bracket", with 2 small bolts on it.
On the bottom side (the side you are looking at in the picture) between those 2 small bolts is a imprinted DATE CODE.
If that date code is A48 or A49 , they say to REPLACE that Bracket.

The "Parking Pawl" is right at that bracket....and they say to press on it and it should move up and down (with the gear select in NEUTRAL).

If the date code is NOT one of those 2, they say that it is OK.....to clean the pan gasket (it is reusable) and re-install the pan to the bottom of the transmission.....and refill with Mercon V fluid.

(FORD updated the manual and repair information to use Mercon V fluid in place of Mercon).

It looks like Webshots has changed....and you cannot zoom the picture unless you are in as a "friend".
That is a recent change....when I first posted my pictures on Webshots....I had it set up so anyone could zoom and / or download the pictures.......but they have changed that.....and I cannot select to have it otherwise.
That picture does not really seem to show the parking pawl very well.....as I was just taking general pictures to show for the fluid and filter change process.
I was not really paying much attention to that particular part at the time.

If you need to zoom in on any of my pictures, send me a PM through this forum with your email address so that I can add you as a "friend" on webshots.....and you can then zoom in (you could have just a few weeks ago) or download.

Wiswind thanks for the information, i thought that this would be a problem. I am going to have it looked at as soon as i can. Once again thank you for your help.

If you have both front tires off the ground it is normal for them to spin in park. One will spin foward while the other one spins backward, it is the normal action of the diferental gears.

If you stop 1 wheel from turning you will not be able to move the other one. When both tires are on the ground it will be locked solid in park.

Nothing to worry about, it's normal

Very good point, when I have done this, only 1 wheel was off the ground, so with the other one still on the ground, what you mention would not happen.
I was thinking of the 1 wheel situation, no both off the ground.

That is what someone else had told me that i asked. You guys are great. That is one less thing that i have to worry about. Thanks again. I can always count on the people in this forum.

You should not torque the wheel lugs against the parking pawl anyway. ...and against jacks or jack stands. Bad practice! Use just enough torque to run lug nuts "home" ... then lower car to ground to finish torqueing.

I don't torque them while the car is in the air. I was always told to just tighten them snug and then lower the car to finish the torq on the wheels. This just happen to occur because i was trying to hold the tire still and i noticed that it was moving freely. I didn't know that this was normal so i was concerned. I usually only have one tire up in the air, but now that i have a better jack and jack stands i try to do things like the brakes with both tires up to save some time with raising and lowering the car.