GEN 1 Dead Battery & "Park" Indicator

[weaponized]

Had a battery fail and leak recently and replaced it with an Optima. All was fine for about 2 weeks then this morning the new battery was dead.

Put a charger on it and noticed that the backlighting on my gauges doesn't turn off after shutting the truck off after a few minutes, and when running through the shifter positions all the gear position lights work except for the "park" position.

Also the remote start has been acting up sometimes...in hindsight, likely because it thinks it's not in park.

Code reader indicates no codes.

After searching I found one post that mentioned something about a shifter solenoid but it didn't go in depth and I could find no other mention of it. I think it has something to do with the park position sensor or whatever but want to be sure before I take it to the dealer so they're not chasing their tail trying to figure this out.

Anyone experience this?

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[weaponized]

Welp...the shifter is bad and needs replacement. Internal switch that can't be replaced separately.

Freakin F150. I mean ( cough cough) Raptor

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[WNCHSTR96]

So apparently this just happened to me. Saturday I accidentally washed my key and put it in a bag of rice. Sunday morning while out of state, I went to leave and noticed my courteous lights were on. I didn’t press the unlock button so I checked the rice back and realized I left the battery in the key fob. Took it out, use the spare started the truck and drove home and parked it in the garage. Monday, time to go to work, truck is dead. Can’t get it out of park to push it away from the wall to pop the hood so I take the wife’s vehicle. Needless to say, getting it out of park was more complicated that it should be. Pulled the center console like the manual suggested and pushed in the plastic piece to put it in neutral. Put the battery on charge and go to the store. Noticed the dash lights were illuminated when I got back. Quick google search turned up the park indicator switch, and the need to replace the shifter assembly ($600+ Ford replacement). It also turned up the switch on eBay for less than $20 which should be here Saturday. Did the dash check with the red indicator going away on the dash when put I park. With the battery charged I started it up, pulled it out of the garage to go through the dead battery steps in the manual. By pulling the #11 fuse on the passenger side the dash gets no power to drain the battery. However I can’t seem to get the stupid key out of the ignition now. I put the fuse back but still can’t get it out. Maybe I knocked something out of alignment at the shifter or something, I just don’t know. Will be working on it this weekend so when and if I get it fixed I’ll post my findings and solution. If anybody has had this issue hit me up as I’m pretty confident about the switch causing the dash lights to stay on draining the battery, but not sure if it’s related to my key not coming out. It’s a 2012 with 181k miles. Thanks in advance!

 

[WNCHSTR96]

All fixed. Cut out the broken switch & spliced in the new one and all is back to normal. and the key came out.

 

[weaponized]

All fixed. Cut out the broken switch & spliced in the new one and all is back to normal. View attachment 136939 and the key came out.

You got a source for that switch?

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[FordTechOne]

You got a source for that switch?

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Same question here! That sounds much more cost effective than replacing the entire assembly.

 

[Johndeere99]

I have had this happen twice on my 2014. Replacing the switch is the easy fix.

 

[WNCHSTR96]

You got a source for that switch?

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Sorry for the delay, didn’t see the alert.
https://www.ebay.com/p/2305588973 Hopefully this link paste job works. If not, do what I did and go to eBay and search for 2011-2014 Ford F150 F-150 Instrument Cluster Repair Dash Light Staying on Fix

 

[shanman]

Where is it on a column shift I can not find it or anything on it only floor shift

 

[WNCHSTR96]

Where is it on a column shift I can not find it or anything on it only floor shift

I’m not sure about column shift. I was under the impression that this park indicator switch is only for the center console shifter versions.