Ford Focus Service Manual: Range Selection

The transaxle range selector has 5 positions: P, R, N, D, L.

Park

In selector lever position P, no gear is selected. The parking pawl is engaged manually by the selector lever cable and the manual control lever shaft.

For safety reasons, always apply the parking brake whenever the vehicle is parked.

Reverse

In selector lever position R, reverse gear is selected. REVERSE allows the vehicle to be operated in a rearward direction, at a reduced gear ratio.

Neutral

In selector lever position N, no gear is selected. The driveline is not locked, so the wheels are free to rotate.

The vehicle may be started in NEUTRAL.

Drive

In selector lever position D when the Overdrive (O/D) switch is not pressed, the transaxle control allows all the gears to be selected. When the O/D switch is pressed, shifting into 4th gear is prevented or the transaxle shifts down to 3rd gear.

L Position

In selector lever position L, only 1st gear is selected. In addition to the 1st gear One-Way Clutch (OWC) , the transaxle control closes the reverse gear brake to produce engine braking effect in overrun.

If the selector lever is moved to position L at an excessive vehicle speed for 1st gear, the transaxle control only allows the downshift to take place when the corresponding vehicle speed has been reached.