Ok, just had the brake light switch die which of course locks your Shifter in park. According to my parts guy they have a life span of about 5 years. Mine made it 12 lol. Said the 94-96 years were the worst, seen them go up in a few months. Anyway, I was trying to figure out how to get it out of park to get home and read all kinds of crazy stuff about pulling off your Shifter **** and cover, then using a small screwdriver to disengage the Shifter, etc...

Here is what I did and its a lot easier if nobody has mentioned it before. Pop the trim cover that holds the diag port off, 2 little plastic plugs. 1/4 turn the brake light switch to the right and pop it out. Disconnect the white plug. Jump the two outside poles together on the white plug with a paper clip. That will unlock your lever and get you moving. Take the clip out so you are not running brake light all the time. You won't have brake lights, but you didn't have them anyway right? ;-)

New switch at the dealer is $21, under $10 online.

This all has probably been said but most of the tips I found on the interwebs went right for tearing the Shifter apart. Gotta be smarter than the truck ;-)

 

That cheap, I may just pick up a spare and throw in the glovebox, 'cause I havent had the pleasure, YET.

 

Yeah, I took the old one apart to see what happned. The contacts in the bottom of the switch are basically a set of points on the end of a very thin strip of metal. Every time you hit your brakes the points connect and no doubt arc. When the points wear down it eventually will burn through the metal strip and then no more connection. So like points in a distributor, its only a matter of time before they go. ;-)

 

the old rear defroster jump trick. i keep a spare handy because you can't do the defroster trick on the d2's.