Key stuck diagnosis.

[knsmith11]

Not engaging park

Hello,
So to start, I don't know much about my 4runner. My friend that I bought it from did a lot of work on it which he has told me about but other than that I'm new to 4runners and Toyota. I'm also beginner level on knowing about cars.
So I'm trying to figure out if what is described would help my problem.

Issue: The shifter will shift into the park position but it's not fully engaging park and therefore not letting me turn my key to the full off position to remove it from the ignition.

Started: This all started one day when I couldn't get my 4Runner out of park. I found out that the 4Runner won't disengage park if you break light fuse blows, which mine had. The fuse was blown when I hooked up my trailer. The trailer wiring had a short in it. I didn't know this at the time so I called my friend that I had bought it from. He told me to just yank it out of park and that it wouldn't hurt anything. So with all my strength and the forces of hell, I pulled the shifter out of park. Ever since then it has an issue with engaging fully into park. The shifter can also be shifted around without pressing the top button.

Help?: Can anyone tell me if this is just some sort of sensor that needs to be replaced, or a shifter cable, or something else? I have to spend an average of 15-20 to get the shifter in just the right place for it to release my key.

 

[moose00]

Hi guys - I know this is an old thread but this just helped me a lot (thank you!) figuring out what my (new, sudden) problem was... I had to come up with a slightly different solution though so hopefully this may help somebody else.

As others have said the peg was not catching the white plastic piece because there was too much play in the shifter. It was too loose and even pushing it all the way to the right when putting it in park wasn't working.

I grabbed a couple of washers and put them on the left of the sleeve for the bottom of the shifter, tightened everything back up, and... So far so good!

 

[4Runner fun]

Hi guys - I know this is an old thread but this just helped me a lot (thank you!) figuring out what my (new, sudden) problem was... I had to come up with a slightly different solution though so hopefully this may help somebody else.

As others have said the peg was not catching the white plastic piece because there was too much play in the shifter. It was too loose and even pushing it all the way to the right when putting it in park wasn't working.

I grabbed a couple of washers and put them on the left of the sleeve for the bottom of the shifter, tightened everything back up, and... So far so good!

https://www.yotashop.com/toyota-oem-shifter-lever-bushing-33548-31010/?utm_medium=googleshopping&utm_source=bc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw6vmse_M3QIV03J-Ch2_Ng8zEAQYBCABEgLkPPD_BwE

Washers will work, here are the bushings, if you replace them and adjust the shifter the key issue will solve itself.
and the shifter will be nice and tight, also it wont rattle.

 

[rmartin929]

Yes, the washer or the actual bushing is the solution. I was fixing mine and noticed plastic shards from the old bushing. I used 1 thick washer and it's a little tricky getting it in place. Slide the shaft bolt toward the shifter, then you might have to slightly pry the shaft & bolt to give you enough space to work the washers into place.