2003 T4R Floppy Shifter

P

pants

New member
Floppy's about the only way i can think to describe it.

Here's the deal. My car was parked near my home and someone hit it at slow speed with a 77 westfalia. They made contact with the 4Runner right on (or just behind) the passenger side front wheel. Messed up the door, mirror and right front fender. (They left a note, it's all good).

When i went to move it the next day it was pretty tough to turn the key because i had to rotate the steering wheel to unlock it. Other than that it seemed fine. So i reparked it down the street.

The next day (yesterday) i was driving around and the shifter felt funny when changing gears (it was sticking, not wanting to move between say, reverse -> drive. I forced it just a touch (just to try to get it into gear) and it came free, shifted and was fine.

Problem is, not the shifter is loose and floppy. That is, when in Drive "4", it'll bounce freely back to "3" right next to it. It'll move very easily into every other gear too. I don't think it would slip from Drive to reverse but i don't want to test it. It takes only very light pressure to move it around now, something definitely not right.

Any ideas what this could be, and if it could possibly be related to the accident (or is that just somehow coincidence).

I'm visiting their insurance agent tomorrow to start getting it all squared away.
 
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Regardless if it is really from the accident ot not i would get it fixed claiming it was from the accident, you dont want to get screwed later on down the road when it messes up all together.......thats just my .02 and it wasnt your fault that some other non-driver hit your truck. So make their insurance pay, thats what i would do.

:happens:
 
I don't think it's related to the accident either. But when you get your 4R fixed, have them fix or replace the shifter and the transmission checked out.

The shifter is just a big switch and there isn't any mechanical linkage to the transmission. But either way, it shouldn't be loose or floppy.
 
pants said:
Floppy's about the only way i can think to describe it.

Here's the deal. My car was parked near my home and someone hit it at slow speed with a 77 westfalia. They made contact with the 4Runner right on (or just behind) the passenger side front wheel. Messed up the door, mirror and right front fender. (They left a note, it's all good).

When i went to move it the next day it was pretty tough to turn the key because i had to rotate the steering wheel to unlock it. Other than that it seemed fine. So i reparked it down the street.

The next day (yesterday) i was driving around and the shifter felt funny when changing gears (it was sticking, not wanting to move between say, reverse -> drive. I forced it just a touch (just to try to get it into gear) and it came free, shifted and was fine.

Problem is, not the shifter is loose and floppy. That is, when in Drive "4", it'll bounce freely back to "3" right next to it. It'll move very easily into every other gear too. I don't think it would slip from Drive to reverse but i don't want to test it. It takes only very light pressure to move it around now, something definitely not right.

Any ideas what this could be, and if it could possibly be related to the accident (or is that just somehow coincidence).

I'm visiting their insurance agent tomorrow to start getting it all squared away.
Click to expand...
conponenshifter2copy.jpg~original
 
Mine seems "floppy too". Ever since I bought it, it has been too easy to move around. Mine is mostly between 4th and 5th. It doesn't stay in 4th unless you hold it. It is pretty darn easy to move every where else.
I have not yet looked into the fix so I am looking forward to hearing what happens with your situation.
Let us know.
 
i'm taking my truck in on thursday this week and this shifter problem is something i'm going to ask them to look at. i'll let you know what they say about it. if they want a whole lot of money to fix it i think i'm going to have them leave it. fingers crossed
 
Hi there, does anyone know where i can pick one of the Shift Lock Assembly units up?

The dealer says it needs to be replaced but their cost for it is more than i was even guessing it would be, i'm sure this can be done for considerably cheaper, they want near 1k to fix it.

I checked on partznet but either i can't find it or it's not there.

I think the exact part i need is the "Shift Lock Control / ECU Sub-Assembly" from the diagram below.

747, you probably need the same, if you're under warranty you should get them to fix it. I haven't removed the part to see if it's actually repairable but the guy told me it's sealed and there's nothing you can do to it except to change it out.

i might try to figure out if that's the case this weekend.

thanks in advance!

EDIT: Diagram ABOVE, in the post by morbius
 
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ok, i had a little time this afternoon to properly pull the shifter apart and i think i can characterize the problem maybe a little more accurately.

Pulling front to back, purely on the Y axis, the action and detents are completely fine. On the X axis though there is no real resistance.

Everything electronic about the shifting continue to function just fine (the shift indicator on the dash correctly lights for which gear the truck is in and the shift lock (that prevents you from shifting from P -> R without having your foot on the brake) works fine as well.

Once you depress the brake the shifter will effortlessly move to the right from P and then normally down into R.

The place where the problem sort of comes in is when shifting from D -> 3 which is a straight move from right to left. There is very little pressure keeping the shifter in D where there used to be a noticeable detent. On rough terrain i'm certain it would bounce back and forth between the two.

I was able to pull the Shift Assembly ECU and it nothing appears to be broken on it, in fact it appears to be in great shape. I don't see any parts out of place or noticeably missing on the shifter stick assembly itself either.

If there's anyone who has any experience with the 4th gen shifter and has any ideas i'd definitely be interested in hearing what you have to say!

The only thing i can think of at this point is that there's a track on the shifter stick itself that controls the left to right movement/detent and it's slipped off track. if that's the case though it's definitely not an obvious thing.
 
me too...

I have the exact same problem. Has anyone come up with a resolution?
Kinda hate to take this thing apart right now because the teg is down for the winter.
 
YNo, has yours always been like that or did it happen after a certain event, or shift?

Mine worked perfectly until very recently. Over the last few months it was getting difficult to make that last shift into "low." I would have to force it, gently but it didn't want to go. It was definitely resistance right there in the shifter arm.

One time i was heading down a large hill and it stuck again when trying to shift into low so i forced it a little and it freed up. I could hear a sound as if some plastic thing had jumped its track, since then it's been in this state.

the good part of it is that it shifts into low quite easily now ;)

after looking at it today though i don't know what's wrong with it. i bet if i was able to examine one that was in working order for about 10 minutes i could figure out what was wrong though..
 
i took it apart again today just to take another look at it while the light was strong outside.

from what i can see there must be something broken in there that control the left/right detent. what i don't know is if that detent exists on the ECU housing or shift level itself (that's where the front to back detents are).

The ECU has a very slight spring loaded resistance which controls whether the truck is in D or 3 (right to left), right now that the only thing putting any resistance on the knob. I examined the ECU pretty closely and there's nothing visibly out of place on it, mechanically everything appears to be working properly with it, electronically it works just fine.

anyway, i can get the ECU out and back in with the center console all buttoned up in about 10 minutes now. i might try to take a look at one from another truck and see if there's anything different about them.

if anyone knows anything about that side to side detent/movement me YNo and 747 would be into it!
 
It happened last summer; D -> 3 shifts were becoming increasingly difficult. Of course I had to force it with a slight side tap with my palm and I heard a crunch and it was flopping around since then.
 
nice! so it sounds like we have exactly the same problem and got to it in exactly the same way. i'm hoping that it ends up being something simple.

i'm going to keep trying to figure it out, i'll post back here if i find anything interesting.
 
Same Issue

I would appreciate if anyone has found a resolution. I have a 2003 4R I purchased in 2009 and didn't notice this issue for a couple months after having the vehicle. It has gotten increasingly difficult to shift into lower gears than drive and I couldn't go from R -> P. I usually went to N and had a sweet spot to get it into P. This morning I shifted and heard what I believe to be something plastic break and I have a floppy shifter. Didn't anyone make the final repair?
 
:mad: I took the floor shift assembly apart today... or atleast half way. It doesnt seem to be a problem with the shift lock ECU assy. I'm focusing on either the "lower position indicator housing" or the unnamed hunk of plastic that the "shift lever lock pin" goes through. :redbrick:
 
I just encountered the same problem. Shifter flips between 3rd and D with no resistance what so ever. Any update on a possible fix?
 
Hey guys, chalk up another floppy shifter.

Happened to me today while driving to work. I was in 3 for whatever reason, and, when going back into D, there was a huge amount of resistance. I slapped it into D, heard a click, and from there on, it became very floppy, with no resistance between shifting anywhere. It also has been increasingly hard these past months to shift into L.

I have some technical knowledge about the tranny; that being the 03-04 V6'es came with the A340E 4-spd tranny, used in many many Toyota's in the past. I heard these trannies have a physical, mechanical connection from the transmission to the shifter, however, I can't confirm that. I will be going to the dealership tomorrow to see if I can get some more information.

I'd imagine this problem doesn't exist in the newer 4th gens with the 5 speed A750 transmission.
 
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