gear shift wont move

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kennyb3030

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99 t4r limited, auto, 138k, just back from hauling off a load of straw and i unhooked the trailer and killed the car ! i come back out to leave and the gear shift wont move, the button on the gear shift isnt pushing in either. whats going on here? any ideas guys ?
 
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There's a lockout feature to prevent you from shifting out of Park unless the brake is depressed, perhaps somehow it got messed up when you towed. Try to use the emergency feature. Theres a little black plastic cap near the shifter you are supposed to pop off, then you press the button under there and it over rides the brake lock out and in theory you should then be able to shift. Try that and report back.
 
pat161 said:
There's a lockout feature to prevent you from shifting out of Park unless the brake is depressed, perhaps somehow it got messed up when you towed. Try to use the emergency feature. Theres a little black plastic cap near the shifter you are supposed to pop off, then you press the button under there and it over rides the brake lock out and in theory you should then be able to shift. Try that and report back.
Click to expand...

This should work. Let us know.
 
i had to leave for work after that, so it will be later this evening before i can try this, is this gona fix my problem for good ?
 
kennyb3030 said:
i had to leave for work after that, so it will be later this evening before i can try this, is this gona fix my problem for good ?
Click to expand...

It will probably let you override the lock if you keep pressing it in, but you'll still probably need to fix whatever linkage or switch that's broken in there. IIRC, there is an electric solenoid that tells the shifter that the brake is pressed in.
 
Oooo, ooooo, oooo..... I know this one :) ( hand raised & waving like crazy! )


I had the same problem pulling a trailer. The trailer lights shorted out and the brake light fuse popped. I did not know it and had to do the little button thingy with a screw driver do pull out of the dump.

When I got home, I noticed my brake lights were out on the 4Runner. A new fuse and fixed the short on the trailer lighting and problem solved!

That should cover it.

I hope your problem is the same as mine as it is a cheap & easy fix.
 
topdown4runner said:
Oooo, ooooo, oooo..... I know this one :) ( hand raised & waving like crazy! )


I had the same problem pulling a trailer. The trailer lights shorted out and the brake light fuse popped. I did not know it and had to do the little button thingy with a screw driver do pull out of the dump.

When I got home, I noticed my brake lights were out on the 4Runner. A new fuse and fixed the short on the trailer lighting and problem solved!

That should cover it.

I hope your problem is the same as mine as it is a cheap & easy fix.
Click to expand...

Yep...same thing happened to me when towing. Trailer lights had a short and I ended up blowing more than one fuse. As stated above.....if your tail lights go out, it wont let you shift into drive. Yes the manual over ride will work, however you will be driving without tail lights. Just check both fuse compartments and replace the blow fuses.
 
kennyb3030 said:
i hope this is my problem, when i get home i will check the fuse and let you guys know if this fixes it , :D
Click to expand...

This happens to me a lot when I tow my boat. I found the blown fuse in the box under the hood.

I have had both the brake light fuse and the tail light fuse blow....they are mini fuses and are rated at 20amps.
 
I thought I would add a little info to this thread. As I had mentioned, I had blown brake light fuses a couple of times after towing. Always thought it was water even though I unplugged my lights before launching my boat.

Anyway, during the last outing with the boat as I was backing it in the garage, I smelled something burn and lost the right side brake light. As I went to replace the bulb, I lost the other side.......upon looking closely I found that the bulbs were good although it did blow the fuse.

Then as I replaced the fuse, it would blow immediately so I started to look for a short to ground. Removed both taillight housings then removed the interior trim on the passenger side and found the first problem. The towing "control" that someone had installed that plugs into the taillight harness had burned and melted, I removed it from the harness and replaced the fuse which again blew immediately.

I chased the wiring harness up the passenger side.......under the dash and unplugged each connector I came across and tried another fuse which blew immediately.

Finally I went to the fuse box under the hood, disconnected it so I see the bottom where the wires came in, and there I found it!!! The hot side of the fused wire had melted into a adjacent wire. I was able to separate them and coat with liquid tape. Reinstalled the fuse box and tried another fuse and the problem was solved!!

My lesson from this is to keep your senses attuned when you have a problem!! In this case, my nose told me!!

My theory is that the towing "control box" shorted which caused it to melt and as I would put a fuse in it would allow the wire to heat up before it would blow the fuse until it got so hot it melted into the other wire causing a immediate dead short.

I have ordered another towing box, a Hoppy's and will install it and see how that goes!!!
 
I recently started having this problem, but it only happens in the morning, or if my truck has been off for several hours. I usually fight with it for about 30 seconds, and then the shifter button depresses, and I can shift out of park. If it's warm, it goes right into gear. Fuses all look good. Anyone seen this?
 
Just a little more information about my problem and maybe help someone later on. I got the Hoppy trailer light kit in and proceeded to install it. Appeared to work like a charm until I hooked my boat up. Blew another fuse!!!

So I started the search on the boat trailer for another short...........found it as the trailer wires had become lodged under a support bracket on the frame and had been smushed creating a dead short to ground on the passenger side. I corrected the wiring, replaced the fuse and all is good now.

So by my figuring......the wires started shorting on the trailer causing a few blown fuses, then the control box couldn't handle the short anymore, so it shorted and in replacing fuses and diagnosis, I probably caused the wires under the fuse box to short. Of course I found and fixed it in reverse order!!!

My new motto is if I blow a fuse from now on I will search out the short first starting on the towed trailer first!!!:bash:
 
AKAndy said:
I recently started having this problem, but it only happens in the morning, or if my truck has been off for several hours. I usually fight with it for about 30 seconds, and then the shifter button depresses, and I can shift out of park. If it's warm, it goes right into gear. Fuses all look good. Anyone seen this?
Click to expand...

My truck seemed to be intermittently doing this for a day or 2 and now I have to depress the lock switch to get my 98 4r (sr5) to shift into any gear. Any thoughts. Oh, and all lights and brake lights seem to be working fine.
 
CAN I RE_VISIT THIS THREAD?>>>



i recently got back from a long 6 hour road trip to LA and back... just went to go get ice cream at the store after being parked from the long trip for 2 hours......and i couldn't pull the shifter knob into drive.. it was really hard to do, like it was suck,,, but i pull it hard and it went...




ANY THOUGHTS?
 
Climb in underneath and make sure there is not something preventing the transmission shift linkage from moving or binding. Perhaps you can see what is causing it to be so stiff.
I've caught branches and sticks up in mine a couple of times that prevented it from moving. I would not be forcing it however unless you want more problems compounded on.
 
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