hard to get into gear from park

[joe8918]

My '96 4.0 w/ A.T. w/ 112k miles is experiencing some problems every once in a while where it is very difficult to shift out of park. The button on the shifter is not fully moving even though I have my foot on the brake. I'm not parked on a slope so there's no rollback on the trans gears or anything.

Couple of points to aid in analysis:
- I've been able to start it everytime but pushing hard on the button and pretty hard on brake but that's obviously not normally.
- Shifts into gear fine from park, re-start, etc. after initial start (ie. morning) *** SEEMS SIGNFICANT - VERY INTERESTING ***
- Start-up is great so I'm assuming it has nothing to do with the Neautral position sensor.

Is there some sort of brake application indicator that is not registering at my shifter release button?

I've searched around the site but could not find anything or on the web but I'm assuming I'm not the only person to ever experience this issue. Please advise.

Thank you

[AlohaBra]

You might look at the brake lite switch adjustment.

[joe8918]

So I looked under and kind of played with the sensor and confirmed that it needs to be undepressed to be able to move the side button on the shifter.

I did not spend a lot of time on it...only went out during lunch to look yesterday...but was curious to know if there is actually an adjustment that could be made. Perhaps the sensor is not full affixed to the bracket?

I'm not well versed on exactly how the depreseed button is alllowed to move when only the brake light switch is activated but didn't know if something in the handle could be a little goofed up.

Thanks for the info. so far.

[AlohaBra]

You can take the handle off by just pulling real hard.

The plastic button in there slides and pushes down on the rod.

Spray some silicone into the handle/button to make it smoother.

Otherwise, adjust the brake switch a little by getting it to activate sooner with the relationship to pedal travel.

You can also get the gear shift cover off to take a look after you get the handle removed. Just pop it off with a small screwdriver.