Hi everyone! First of all, I'm sorry for my English but I'm still in the learning process. I have a 2000 S-Type with 167k miles. Bought it for $2200 with 153k miles 14 months ago never had a problem with it so can't complain. However, the other day, I hopped in my car to go to school and after I started it like I always do, I had to back up from my spot and when I pulled the lever to Reverse, the car did not engage. My first reaction was shifting to Drive, and that wouldn't work either. The car is basically stuck in neutral no matter what gear I select. The tranny has always been lagging a bit when going from Park to Drive but I did not expect this to happen. For obvious reasons if the repair cost is above $1000, I will just let it go, but does anyone know if there is something else I could do before having it towed to a shop? Hope someone can help. Thank you!
Alex

 

Move to S-Type forum. Then Search and read what others did that worked.

 

Alex,

I've moved your question from General Tech Help to S-Type forum. Members here with the same model will be able to help.

Graham

 

First suspect is the cable is stretched. Next is fluid level is low.

 

Follow Mikey's advice from first to latter.

 

Then there is the nylon/plastic sleeve thingy on the selector assembly, under the console, that may have given up.

Fluid change, as in a simple drop and refill is MANDATORY, even without these issues.

The "lag" from R,N to D is NORMAL. The handbook mentions, "Select D and wait for the take up before accelerating", or something along those lines, its a Ford thing, and both mine do it as described.

Cable connection, both inner and outer is very high on my list, as mentioned above.