I have 2003 e-150 with less than 63,000 miles. I parked it 5-6 months ago while I waited to find radius/stabilizer arms (obsolete parts).
It ran well until i parked it, now it wont move. Starts fine, shifter moves fine, but wont move. The rpms drop (as under load) when shifted from park or neutral to drive and reverse, but it wont move- only revs... could this be a faulty output speed sensor?

 

Check my signature below. So which engine?
Additionally which tranny do you know? You can check how many bolts on your tranny pan to tell which one.

 

4.2 v-6.
The van isn't with me presently, so i cant check which transmission

 

A speed sensor might affect shifting scheduling, but i doubt it would have very much to do with applying forward or reverse operation.

Without actually checking, something like power not getting to the solenoid pack in the trans might be a better place to start checking.
Because so much depends on electronic/electrical power being available for things electrically controlled, always a good move to first check all plugs going to and from trans for any corrosion or looseness. They have to be unplugged to physically look at them when checking for corrosion.!

 

I'll try to check connections tomorrow ... not much ground clearance.

 

4R70W = 14 bolts, 4R100 = 20 bolts, check the tranny pan you can tell.
With stock tranny on a 4.2L you should have 4R70W.
You should begin checking something externally, especially the linkage. Remove the doghouse, you can check the cable and your range sensor movement when shifting to different gear and its connector and wiring. To remove the range sensor connector you need to wiggle, then flathead when you see little gap, then wiggle to get it off. The connector is fragile and don't force and pull it out.
What else you can do externally? Check the 3 fuses, check the fluid hot level (after 15 minutes warm up), and its color. During warm up shift and hold for 10 seconds or so in every gear. One last thing, get a scanner and retrieve all the DTCs. You might need a ford specific one (like Forscan or foxwell nt510 elite) to retrieve all codes. Your best case scenario is a linkage issue externally. Just make sure your shifter can communicate with the range sensor mechanically and the range sensor reacts accordingly. There are lots of things you can do before dropping the tranny and taking it apart.



Diagnosis-by-Symptom index pages shown above.
Pinpoint Test index page shown below:


Routines 201 + 301 shown below, download the pdf below to see all routines.

 

Just a thought... Does the van roll in neutral? I had something like this happen a few years ago where I parked my E150 for a few (rainy) days and when I tried to use it one morning it wouldn't move. Same exact symptoms you describe. I had it flat-bedded to my mechanic who told me my parking brake was stuck, rusted in just a few days of rain without use. The parking brake pedal would release like normal but somewhere along the cable it was stuck, keeping me from moving. It was an easy fix for my mechanic but an expensive one for me with the cost of the flatbed.

 

But he said only no forward, reverse works fine though. If parking brake was stuck he can't move at all.

 

Heiko:

I'm not sure that's what he said...

He said "The rpms drop (as under load) when shifted from park or neutral to drive and reverse, but it wont move- only revs". He could mean that "the engine just revs" rather than "it works in rev[erse]"

 

My bad I misread it.
Here's the NO REVERSE (202 + 302):



Yes, push it in neutral or jack up the rear differential.