Put the truck into Neutral - how?

[FirstFord]

I never in my life thought I would have to consult the Owner’s Manual to figure out how to put a vehicle into Neutral, but it happened (how embarrassing!!!). And worse, I still failed!

My truck was in the garage, and I needed to move it literally just a few inches to get something that was in front of it. For that small amount, I didn't want to start it up - I figured I'd just throw it into Neutral, push it back a few inches, and return it to Park. The shifter was "locked" in Park. I turned the ignition ON, put my foot on the brake, and tried to shift to Neutral - no go. I broke down and actually consulted the Owner’s Manual, followed the instructions, and I still couldn't get it to move out of Park. Ultimately, I gave up, started the truck and moved it. What am I doing wrong???

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[JBMCEQY]

Sounds like "Temporary Neutral Mode" is what you're after. Here's everything I could find from the 23 owners manual about it. Don't ask me why it's so complicated.

 

[UncleWillie]

Ugh. That's frustrating. The way my driveway is sloped, I used to hop in my mast truck, put it in neutral and roll down the hill out of the way if I needed to. Never had to crank the truck (but I've only had my F150 for a couple of weeks and haven't tried this yet). It sounds like this "temporary neutral" still requires you to crank the truck.

I may experiment later. But in my last truck you still needed to turn the key halfway to auxiliary mode to get the e-shifter power for the shift. I wonder if the F150 requires the same thing.

 

[Davidwnuc]

As far as I know, that’s the only way to get it into neutral without starting it.

 

[someday]

Those might be the most poorly written instructions I've ever read.

 

[FirstFord]

Sounds like "Temporary Neutral Mode" is what you're after. Here's everything I could find from the 23 owners manual about it. Don't ask me why it's so complicated.

The instructions that you posted are the same as for my '22, and I followed them. No go. Based on the wording, "Power your vehicle on", I interpreted that rather literally turn the ignition to "ON" (engine not started/running), but that does not seem to be the case. It seems that you have to start the engine and have it running, in order put it into Neutral (exception: circumstances demonstrated in previously posted YouTube video with tow truck). The huge irony of all of this, is that starting the engine was exactly what I was trying to avoid! ?

As far as I know, that’s the only way to get it into neutral without starting it.

GREAT video, @Davidwnuc ! I didn't know that "feature" existed - I'll remember that!

 

[UncleWillie]

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/shift-truck-into-neutral-without-engine-running.19415/

I looked here, and also played around in the truck while I took a little work break. Looks like there is no "easy" / "normal" way to do this. That really sucks!

I used to back nearly all the way down my driveway in neutral before cranking up when I left the house early in the mornings when I had my other truck, which was much louder than this truck (my truck was parked next to the baby nursery so I didn't want to crank up the old loud diesel next to her room at 5am.). I guess we just gotta crank the darn thing up each time we want to move it a few feet now...

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