my explorer does the same. cannot shift from drive to park. and sometimes from park to any gear.. this is something every explorer owner should have been told when buying this truck..look under your steering wheel and there is a little plastic square thing that can be moved to show what looks like a key hole..push that button in or clog it with a piece of paper then push back the plastic cap and voila you can now shift perfectly again...also one main reason ive found i couldn't shift was cuz the brake lamp light fails so when you push the brakes to shift from drive or reverse into park it will not allow you to and vice versa..but after 30min to an hour it comes back on again..i believe its all faulty wiring or needs a new fuse or two underneath by the brake pedal..

ohh and if you get that silly door ajar symbol always poping up open the driver side door and wiggle the wires or wipe it with a napkin if wet..ivew seemed to have solved most of my explorers problems just by going threw the manual..im also due for an inspection from where i bought my car.. alot of the dealers didnt even know how to fix these problems all they could say was your gona need to get it towed..hope this little bit of information helps all of you out..take care and good luck with your ford(Found On Road Dead) explorers..lol.

THIS FORD IS JUNK!

My 2002 ford explorer now has 150000 miles and lots of crap has happened and is now wrong with it. I purchased at the end of 2008 with 110000 kms and have been up and down fixing it something is always wrong and its not reliable one bit! The transmission has been slippin since i bought it and the rear lights stick on and off whenever they want to killing my battery and confusing people behind me, the transmission has the most problems shifting from reverse to drive and to second gear and third so one....

My 2002 Ford Explorer has been giving me trouble since 2006 when I had to have work on the transmission totaling $1500. The service engine light is still on, it makes a THUD sound when placed in reverse like the rear end has dropped off, hesitates shifting to 2nd and 3rd gear, and the rpm goes to 3 or 4 when taking off.I have had so many problems with this SUV its nerve wracking. All of our friends say they would NEVER buy a Ford, NEVER. Form all the complaints I have read it seems like Ford should do something about helping with the cost of having it fixed. I can't even afford to have it fixed, and I need it to get to work!!!

wtf.i just bought this truck last week and this is the 1st problem ive had so far.. was going to reverse park into my stall then hit the brakes and shifted into park and guess what it did not go..it would go into any other gear but park..after lots of force it went into park then wouldnt come out of it..after more force it came out and into drive..i drove out of my parkade and onto small hill and put it into park and badabing stuck again but this time to no avail.it would not shift..a fix the ford mechanic told me to do was push truck forward and have someone try to shift as it may be locked..as i pushed up my wife hit the brakes but the brake lights did not illuminate..im thinking maybe the sensor is f*cked up and transmission doesnt know if brakes are applied to allow it to shift into park or into gear..am getting it serviced from dealer tommorow and will post what is said..

Update from Mar 16, 2010: ford said its gona cost $400 to diagnose and fix. lordco sells the brake light switch which is located near brake pedal for under $30. this is why you cant shift from park to any gear and vice versa.signal is not given to tranny saying its safe to go into park..if your stuck like i was and dont want to pay $100 and up to get towed because your car would not go into park or any gear than pull over somewhere safe apply emergency brakes and find a flat screw driver or house key then look underneath your steering wheel for a shift release keyhole. move the panel to open and either put key in and shift to desired gear or stuff some paper in it like i did and close panel and you wont have that problem anymore..but you will still need to get brake light switch because here and there when your driving your break lights and reverse lights and turn lights in back are not working and can result in accident.. but it will only turn off here and there for couple of minutes.

This 2002 explorer got only 52,000 Miles on it and i am feeling signs on transmission failure. I hardly drive this vehicle as i use this Explorer (exploder) as a spare one because i know it going to cost a lot to get it fixed.I keep it parked in garage most of the time because i don't have that much money to get it fixed. Not even worth of selling it as resale value is very very low as you know it got blue ford logo on it. I dint knew this model had transmission issue, if i knew i never would have purchased this piece of crap. 2007 was worst year of my life when i purchased this used piece of crap from Ford Dealer. we all are in same Ford boat middle of nowhere ,where we all going to sink one day no matter what. Hope Ford reads this complain and for sake of their image they call for recall.

ALL OF A SUDDEN EVERY TIME I WENT TO SLOW DOWN I HERD AND FELT A "CLUNK" NOISE FROM THE REAR END, I CONTINUED TO GET WORSE, AND IT ALSO STARTED SKIPPING GEARS.I TOOK IT IN TO FORD AND THEY TOLD ME THE PCV HOSE COLLAPSED, AND THE MAIN COMPUTER WENT OUT. THEY REPLACED IT AND STILL "CLUNK" GOES MY CAR.. NOW IT'S JUMPING GEARS ALL THE TIME, AND ON 3/22/09 I WENT TO PUT THE CAR IN REVERSE, AND HIT THE GAS, I WENT NOWHERE. TRIED IT AGAIN AND STILL THERE IN MY DRIVEWAY I SAT. I SLAMMED IT IN TO PARK, AND THEN INTO DRIVE, REVERSE AND AWAY I WENT,IT FEELS LIKE IT LOOSES POWER IN REVERSE, AND EVEN WHEN DRIVING IT FEELS LIKE IT'S GOING TO LOCK U AND DIE OUT.

For several months my car has been "clunking" every time I put it in reverse. Sometimes the clunk is really pronounced. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all. Sometimes it just hesitates but then engages okay.

For the past few months I've been parking in such a way where I rarely have to reverse. So if I park at the grocery store, I either park far away so I'm not blocked in, or I pull forward into a stall to the other side so I can drive forward only.

Finally decided to take it to AAMCO. Diagnosed with hesitation in reverse and clunk. Other gears were fine but they said they found metal shavings on the magnet. Recommendation was complete overhaul. Cost? $2200.

They said Ford designed these components with a faulty case and there's some kind of gasket or something that is prone to failure. He said that if we fixed it with him, he would bore out the transmission case to insert some kind of "brass fitting" that would fix the problem and have a solid transmission. He also said it would have cost Ford 20 bucks to correct this problem at the factory by just installing this brass fitting to begin with.

So now I'm stuck, repair the truck and take my chances or just get a new car? I think I'm going to trade it in for a Nissan Xterra.

It all started when my check engine light came on. I went to the nearest auto parts store and asked them to run a scan on it. They told me it was a bad gas cap. (I had just got gas.) Later that day it came on again. I let it go for a little while, because I did not have time to get another gas cap right away. Then my car stated shifting really hard when I was shifting from park to reverse. I had the car looked at and they said I needed to get a transmission flush and fill. I paid over 200.00 for this and it is still doing the same darn thing only worse now. Now it is shifting really hard from park to reverse and every other gear I put it in. Even while driving it shifts really hard from first to second and so on. I now cannot drive my vehicle until tax time to fork out 2500.00 for a new transmission.

We have a 2002 Ford Explorer Limited V8. It all started with the transmission "clunking" when trying to put in reverse from park. It feels like the whole engine is going to drop out from under the truck. Now when you are driving sometimes when you accelerate it acts like the transmission is slipping gears. We are going to have it looked at this week with no hopes of actually solving the issue. May just pay off and get another car. Does not sound worth all the trouble everyone else is having! I will never buy another Ford Explorer again!

I agree with a complaint I read just seconds ago! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH FORD? Now I got my explorer used and I know that thing happen to a car when they are bought used, but come on. I had to fork out $334 for bearings, then had to pay $90 to get the bearings pressed, and would have had to pay someone to put them on my SUV had my dad not known how to do it himself. Now to beat it all of the figuring transmission is slipping, I have a loud pop in my front tires, and my O/D light blinks. I love my explorer but I tell you what I won't buy another one. I will buy a freaking Dodge next time at least people will tell you the damn transmission will go bad and you know what to look for. I'm sorry but I as a consumer and getting sick of being SCREWED by car companies. If it's not one thing it's another. DO NOT BUY A 2002 FORD EXPLORER.

Difficulty in shifting from Park to Reverse started at about 50,000 miles. Brought to dealer to diagnose at 64,400 miles. They recommended a rebuilt be installed for my problematic tranmission. The rebuilt turned out to be in worse condition than my original. We will find out what the dealer will do for me this week - May 30, 2006. Stay tuned....

Update from Nov 11, 2014: Transmission needed to be totally rebuilt at 131,454 miles. This is the second major overhaul I have made on this vehicle.