We've had our '13 SE Ford Escape since the spring of 2014. It's starting to show some age.
One thing is strange though- THIS year of all times, the textured finish on the gear shift knob suddenly went downhill, and began splitting, getting extra soft, and even tacky at times in the summer heat. Pretty gross feeling, especially when you go to release it and your fingers peel off of it... So naturally, it was time to seek other options for our Ford Escape. Replacement knob or cosmetic cover???
NOTE: If you're not game for swapping out the lever itself, you can go the purely cosmetic route and get:
this sew-on type of cover
There is also a stick-on style front and back cover here if you're not into sewing or needlework
However, IF you're still game, here are the Steps for Swapping the Shift Knob:
Make sure your vehicle is level and that your wheels have chocs/ blocks so that the car doesn't roll. You'll need to shift into Neutral to get to some fasteners on the shift knob shaft that requires the lever to be in a lower position for access.
Use some plastic trim tools to pop up the bezel of the cover plate with the PRNDS. Don't lift it up too high, but you can see 2 wire harnesses underneath.
Disconnect the blue connector for the PRINDS illumination. Then disconnect the main white connector going to the knob. This will allow the tray to be lifted all the way upwards.
With the vehicle in Neutral and the E-brake on, and the key in the ON position, but the engine is NOT turned on, you can remove the QTY 2 small phillips screws that hold the knob to the shift assembly. Take them out and DON'T DROP THEM! A magnet can be helpful here.
Slide the knob from the shift assembly and the leather boot and PRINDS tray will come with it.
To disconnect the old knob from the leather boot, there is a plastic collar for the boot that needs to release the knob shaft. You can do this by inserting 2 small flathead drivers into the shaft to press down the tabs OR lift the collar tabs outward. Slide the boot and collar off the old shaft.
Install the new shift knob to the existing boot and collar until the boot collar snaps into the new knob shaft. (Make sure the knob is facing the correct direction relative to the PRINDS tray!)
Slide the new knob and boot over the shaft of the shift assembly and tget the hen reinstall the QTY 2 x tiny phillips screws to re-secure the knob.
Reconnect your wire harnesses and then reinstall the PRNDS cover tray and bezel and adjust the leather boot as needed. Check shifting for all positions as well as the +/- shift ability in (S)port mode.
There are a few things to note:
Ford Factory P/N: DG9Z-7213-EA - this is the normal knob with the black soft touch material, and the silver painted +/- shift button, as well as the black plastic trigger to change gear. You can search this on Tascaparts.com for the factory part, or get the same style we did in this tutorial with the silver trim on top- check our our Amazon Affiliate link here if you'd like to support the channel.
There are QTY 2 x little phillips screws that secure the shift knob to the shaft output of the main shift assembly. These screws are VERY short, and hard to handle with fingertips when reaching around the front of the shaft. A magnet would have been helpful as a safety net to catch it if they came close to dropping into the center console. IF they do fall, you're lucky if you still have visibility on them and it may be very hard to find them again. (The Ford Factory P/N for these screws is: W701894S446)
Hope this was helpful for any 2013-2016 Ford Escape for anyone looking to do a Shift Knob Replacement and leave any comments below with your experience or feedback on this! Thanks!
-Richard (Rahrena)
コメント