Shifting Drive Selector is off by one

The drive selector on my 2000 Ford Exlporer Automatic 4.0L will not allow selection of low gear. The selections are shifted to the right so the last one, low gear will not select. When in park, P, it shows R. When in drive, D, it shows as 2 and when in 2 it shows as 1. Then it will not allow to shift in to 1.
The settings are off by 1 knotch. what’s up with that? It runs fine but cant get to low.

It’s a simple adjustment. A good independent mechanic will fix this problem in short order.

without looking…
is it actually in park gear when you know it should be ?
if so , I’ll bet you are also getting low gear for real too. Maybe not pointing to its little number but the trans is actually in low.

15 year old truck equals…old parts…
The little cable has an adjustment on it that may help.
A new F87Z-7A110-AA could be bought
– OR –
just shift by feel since you really never need to look anyway.

If the gears are NOT what they should be by feel…you may have a shift cable problem.

waaay back…the shift cable broke on my 68 Dodge van. I rigged up a coat hanger to the trans shift lever…fished it up throught the engine dog house …and easily shifted by feel for weeks.

There are two torx bolts at the base of the column where the shifter arm is attached to the shift cable. Have fixed many Ford shifters tightening those two torx bolts.

I have one of these and had this problem. If the torx screws are not loose, then the plstic adjuster for yhe shift indicator is out of whack or broken. It’s a simple spring-loaded pull string that follows the column shift rod. A small plastic wheel is used to adjust it to read the right gear, but sometimes breaks off or spins out of adjustment. The entire lower portion of the dash under the steering wheel has to be removed to get to it.

Also, a bad engine or transmission mount might change the location of the hand on the dial.