Why is My 1989 ford van is stuck in park and wont start?

Answer 1

On these vans, there's a long interlock rod that operates the ignition switch. That's way down on the steering column not behind the key where you'd expect it to be. There's, also, a vacuum switch on the brake peddle. The key and rod has to be in "run" and the brake has to be engaged before you get it out of park. I'll bet your switch or solenoid is bad. Since you can start it, you can get the vacuum up enough to "feel" the brake switch. If your run mode is ok, - all the dash lights come on, ignition box is powered - you should be able to jump the starter solenoid and crank it. Then you'll have vacuum, you press the brake and shift it. You can use a test light to see if you're getting power to the solenoid. Yes - it's the solenoid. No - it's the switch, fuse, bad wire???? I have the same stuff in mine and I've had to work on that myself. Mine was getting stuck in between crank and run. You could start it, but, nothing else was comming on. A big dose of WD40 in the switch was the cure.