so recently my wife said her '55 coupe with Frodomatic transmission will slip out of park into reverse while she's letting the engine warm up. she didn't see the shifter arm move noticeably, but she sure had to step on the brake pedal quick, what with the higher rpm's due to cold engine. i have yet to teach myself about her car, specifically the transmission, but this symptom doesn't necessarily sound specific to any manufacturer or model. what am i able to do to correct this? i am able to put it firmly in park, as does she, and i was able to verify that this happens, and that there's not much "play" in the shifter mechanism. any help would be greatly appreciated and would kick start my education of the Fordomatics, and i know everybody on here likes photos, so here's one from a while ago. -tred .
read the adjustment instructions in the factory shop manual. If you don't have a manual, get one... But in the mean time, you could find the adjustment and adjust it just a smidgen, so it moves the linkage further in the "park" direction. Make sure it still feels like the detents are where they belong. also suggest she use the parking brake whenever she parks the car. Like the (later) Ford recall sticker said to do!
This is the member you should have a "Conversation" with. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/conversations/add?to=danman55
...as I recall that was a problem with some fords, I recall a falcon that did that to me way back in the mid 60's, best as I can recall it was a worn part in the trans that was the cause.. some of the old timers may recall what the fix was,...miller
These Ford transmissions have killed and injured thousands of people either being run over or crushed against walls.. mainly column shift ( Google it). Any Ford with an Auto # 1 always have the hand brake on # 2 dont ever start the engine from outside the car..always be sitting in car so you can have foot on brake pedal ..# 3 dont trust what the gear shift indicator is reading..#4 dont ever byp*** the neutral isolater switch..( super dangerous ). Haven't keep up with for a few years but Ford were still being sued from the late 50's for deaths & injuries with auto transmissions jumping into gear. I personally have had an incident 40 years ago with a 60's ford in park on electric choke..drop into reverse and ripped the open door of it hinges as it struck the upright of the garage ...
I was in the Air Force in the late 50s and the base had 57 Ford P/U trucks on the flight line. The drivers would stop put it in park leave the motor running, we lost a few tip tanks in the process.
the basic problem is that Ford put P and R next to each other...GM put a blank space between them, they didn't have that problem.
The problem was excessive wear on the park pawl. Putting it into park before being fully stopped, pulling it out of park when loaded (like parking on a hill with the full weight of the car against it), and misadjusted linkage that didn't full engage it all contributed to wear on the pawl. Once they get worn to certain point, replacement is the only cure.
Since you are in Las Vegas, you could also consider leaning the choke a bit, and reducing the warmup time, if it even needs any.
Luckily I've never had any problems with any car slipping into reverse but I've had NSS problems on a few Fords I've had. I've never cared for R being next to park. I''ve always liked the way GM used to have R at the very end of the selector, especially when it was on the center console. It makes no sense to me why everyone went with PRNDL.
That was because of the folks who thought R meant race! ****** it down or back, think it was in low but be in reverse instead. You know somebody had to have done it......
Working for Ford through the 60's to the 80's, we were always fighting this problem and Ford never realy had an answer for us of how to fix this problem. I always felt the park pawl detentent was to narrow to allow the dog to drop in.
There was an issue with C6's in the seventies coming out of Park, and the issue was with the outside linkage at the trans/manual lever. When in Park there was almost no angle between the 2 parts and things like worn or sloppy motor mounts etc etc could be enough for it to pop out. It's kinda like the old HS joke of walking up behind someone who is standing and pushing forward below their knee joint. Might affect other Fords, check how much angle there is between the two parts in Park.
I fixed all my future Fords by changing the isolater switch so it started in netural and modified the spring and pawl in the gear shift quadrant .....filed out the gate so it was deeper so pawl couldn't jump out and stronger spring
good news is you get to take apart the whole transmission to get at the parking pawl in the tailshaft!!!
The problem I found with my 1957 Ford was the column detent plate was worn off. Instead of being nice and square it was rounded off from wear and tear. Either new parts or remove and weld up the old one.
What are you doing in "Park" starting the car. Stock 55 Fords only started in nuetral with Ford-O-Matics. Leave it there and use the parking brake. I never ever leave my 56 in park with the engine running.
So you can see, there are a lot of places to look for the problem! And you still have to be careful with it.... Let us know what you find.
A friend had a 65 Tbird that this happened to...slop in the steering column bushings also contributed to the issue as the shifter column would flex and slop around instead of pushing the trans arm all the way into park. He had left the car running and unoccupied in my driveway when it decide to drop into reverse and take itself for a joyride down my driveway, across the street, up my neighbours driveway finally slow crashing into his garage. Fortunately no one was hit, and damage was minimal. As others said, parking brake is a must!
I driven Fords all my life and have never experienced a car coming out of park, when placed in park. My dad taught me to “ lift” the gear shift lever when taking the car out of park. And lifting it and placing the lever into the park position. It became second nature to me to do it on all cars, still do it today. While at the deptarment, riding with our TO, I noticed he would just drag the column shifter out of park with out “lifting” it. Mentioning about the correct way to take the car out of park fell on deaf ears. Sure enough he brought the car in stating shifter problem on the Pontiac. It was a worn shifter plate. I believe this is the root of most shifter problems, accelerated wear of the indent plate in the column, along with the other listed causes, combine to cause the the car coming out of park. And then there are a lot of times it was never actually “ put” in park. Then the driver blamed the car instead of himself. Bones
thank you all for your insight, and some of you for your incite. i'm not putting another sbc into another ford. it make take a while on this one, but i will let you all know what i find. -tred
"I fixed all my future Fords by changing the isolater switch so it started in netural and modified the spring and pawl in the gear shift quadrant" I thought all automatics would start in Park and Neutral.
The Jalopy Journal
