Shifter locks out in park

[Nick N]

Need help with shifter problem and I’m just your average DIY guy so I don’t claim to be a mechanic. The truck was driving fine and one day I had a guy put it into manual to cycle through the gears to see which transmission I had. From that moment forward I’ve had issues.

 

When you shift into park it locks out and you can’t pull back down into gear. It also doesn’t register that it is in park either. I removed the column trim to see how the shift lever worked. I found that as you go from drive to neutral to reverse that there is a lever arm that moves out and then down to the next slot in the plate. When you pull into park it actually comes out of the plate, depresses a metal button and then slides past it. The problem is that you can’t pull it back past the metal button.