Call and see what the parts people say.

Its likely only one part is actually available for purchase.

If I remember right, I saw both parts online also, but when I called they said one was being replaced by the other in their system and there's just the one available.

Yes, that seems to be the case now with the two places I called. Thanks again for the help.

Indeed, very interesting thread

this just happened to me at 106k. I reported it at 99k, while I was under warranty in september. They couldnt replicate and blew me off.
I first noticed it after it sat for at least 3-4 days, the shifter would be difficult from P - D. The more you worked it, it would resolve. Then when I put it in S it wouldnt shift down and when back in D the highlight wouldnt be there. Yesterday when I put it in Reverse I heard some binding, put it in D, the dashboard lit up. The gears randomly slip when shifting and shifts hard under more then 20% accel.

Im waiting to hear if toyota extracare will cover it since it was reported while in warranty and I have the invoice referencing a claim # from another repair on the same visit, on the line item of the complaint. So convenient the dealer didnt mention this to extracare when they called it in.

out of warranty out of luck is what extracare told me.
dealer might have cleaned it up because when I picked it up to take it to my mechanic, the dash was clean and the shifter was smooth.

If it happens again I will unplug the battery. and remove and clean the sensor before I pay for it

Same fix for me.

2012 Limited w/ 121k miles

I started having the same problem, mushy shifts from P to D. 4LO and traction control lights. P0705 code with check engine light one time. The problem would come and go, usually coming back after a heavy rain.

I ordered the 84540-35060 version even though some sites said the 84540-60050 fit my year. The 84540-35060 works great. Here are some photos and notes from the swap.

7 years of new england winters left the shaft highly corroded.


The bolt and the nut came off easily, but the shaft and the switch had completely fused. I couldn't separate them using penetrating oil, heat, and a crank puller. It took over an hour of carefully drilling away the switch with a dremel tool. I don't know how much the dealership would have charged, but for me it would have been worth it to have them deal with the replacement.


When the switch came loose, I had to sand away all the corrosion on the shaft before the new switch would fit. A healthy layer of anti-seize between the two will hopefully prevent this level of effort the next time around.

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Just looking at that shaft and sensor corroded together like that in your picture gives me a headache. That looks like a huge PIA to do the R&R. What was the Toyota engineer thinking when they let that pass their durability/corrosion testing?

This looks like it should be a maintenance item. “Remove sensor clean and grease shaft every 24k miles”

Massachusetts winter road salt is mostly to blame.. I've had lots of problems that I can blame on road salt, like frozen calipers, rusted heat shields, or my skid plate which has about one more winter of life left in it before it falls off. I do my own maintenance, and if I could have done things over again knowing that these switches eventually fail, I would have unbolted it when the 4Runner was new and coated everything with tons of anti-seize. Maybe even dabbed a bit of paint or caulk on the top of the shaft to keep its salt-spray exposure to a minimum.

I recently ran into this very same issue on my 2011 Limited with 169,000 km.

Three dash warning lights activated while driving - the Check Engine light was on; the Slip Indicator was on; and the 4-LO Lowspeed 4WD Indicator was flashing.

Using my OBD II Code Reader, the Error Code P0705 - Transmission Range Sensor Circuit Malfunction (PRNDL Input) came up.

Came here and found this thread … a big thanks to @toycan and @thejuice for the posts and pics!

I can't say for certain that I truly noticed that moving the gear shifter was becoming all that difficult over time.

Based on my research, I anticipated that the A/T Gear Position Sensor aka the Neutral Safety Switch (NSS) Assembly had failed.

Toyota Canada Part number for the NSS is 84540-35060.

My independent mechanic confirmed the switch failure, and after waiting several days for the local Toyota dealership to get this part in, the old switch was removed (not easily removed due to the corrosion) and the new switch was installed.

My mechanic showed me the inside of the old switch, and the internal corrosion that was on the internal contacts.

The new switch cost $263.00 CAN.

With the new switch, moving the gear shifter does seem a bit smoother

Glad the info helped.

Here's mine after sanding the crap out of the shaft and breaking one of the ears off while giving them a good ping with a punch. I ended up breaking all the ears off to make it easier to free.

145k miles on a 2012. 5-6 hour ordeal, start to finish. Real pain getting it to move just a little that first time. After that, it was still almost another hour until it was completely off.

The boss for the lower trans line unfortunately was the best prying point. It's all good now though.

I don't recall last time I had this issue what the code was, but my shifter has been a little tight recently on cold morning startups. is this a typical symptom of this neutral switch going bad? below is a photo it looks in better shape than the others on here. I found one on Amazon for 160 bucks, seems like I should probably just buy it and replace it while its not rusted to hell?

Took some photos of the switch on my rig:


I shot some penetrating oil on it today in hopes that will loosen it up a bit, maybe it'll make it through the winter.

That's exactly how mine started out. Sticky gear selection. I sprayed with PB Blaster and it seemed to get better for a week, until I got the CEL, no OD, no indictator on dash.

Similar story here. Didn't notice any difficulty shifting but got a CEL and the slip indicator illuminated. The code was P0705 (Transmission Range Sensor Circuit (PRNDL Input) )- i.e Neutral Safety Switch. The part ran $ 170.54. I ordered part number: 8454035060. I wasn't kind to the old part getting it off. After installing the new part, I was a skooch off in alignment. I could just push the gear shift a bit and then the correct gear would illuminate. So I had my son in the car while I adjusted it until "R" and "D" illuminated when in "R" and "D". After driving back and forth to work the permanent codes were cleared and have stayed clear.

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I just replaced this switch again yesterday. The replacement lasted 6 years and 3 months.

It looks like I last replaced this switch on my 2010 SR5 on February 9 2018.

The part number from Toyota parts direct is now 8454035061. Picture of the new part is attached. Other than the casting number on the front, it looks identical to the previous replacement switch.

With tax and shipping to Ontario the switch was $257 CAD. This is quite a bit less expensive then from the local dealership.

The truck had been randomly not showing the drive mode on the instrubment cluster, and the shifter was sometimes soft feeling again. Same as before, it started acting up in higher humidity.

I noticed when the drive mode does not show up on the screen, the truck won't shift into fifth. Not good.


This is the process I did this time. Similar to before, but I went straight to heat:

I sprayed the bolt/nut with sea foam penetrant a couple days before doing this.

I removed the wiring connector. Carefully slightly lifted the tab using the center slit using a small screwdriver, and using a bigger screwdriver on its's side to leverage the connector off, back and forth gently, alternating from one side to the other.

I removed the top 12mm bolt with a socket wrench. I pryed open the 4 arms from the retaining washer on the center nut, then removed the center 22mm nut with a socket wrench.

I broke off the 4 soft metal ears off the switch with a mechanics pry bar, a cold steel chisel, and a rubber mallet. Somehow I did not gouge the shaft.

Then I gave the center of the switch some heat with a torch (trying to avoid the shaft), and used a mechanics pry bar to break off most of the switch away from the center shaft. I used a medium sized pry bar, pointed the handle towards the front of the truck, tucking the shaft kind of in between the transmission line boss and the edge of the transmission pan. The plastic wiring connector on the switch slightly caught fire at one point, so be careful of this. Also be careful of your transmission lines and pan with the heat and the pry bar.

The metal backing of the switch remained corrosion welded to the shaft. I gave the remaining metal switch bits on the shaft another shot of heat, then slid it up off the shaft using the same medium mechanics pry bar, with the handle aimed towards the front of the truck.

It had some rubbery, plastic ring behind the metal that I pried off.

Lightly sanded the shaft clean, then covered it in silicone grease. Last time I used grey anti seize, and that didn't really work. Not sure if this will be any better.

I noticed the back of the switch where the rotating metal meets the plastic, this switch has a bit of visible gap and what looks like silicone grease in it. I added a thin layer of silicone grease around there in hopes of keeping salt out for a bit longer then before. Then slid the switch into place.

Put a bit of silicone grease on the electrical connector, and pushed it onto the switch until it clicked.

Then tightened the bolt and nut. The truck was in park when I tightened the bolt/nut, and I didn't use a torque wrench. I know the instructions say put the truck into neutral, then put the 12mm top bolt in at 13nm and the 22mm center nut at 6.9nm, but the ground was cold, this worked last time, and it tested out fine so far again this time.

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