Neutral Safety Switch? Location? Symptoms if it's bad?

[Lugnutz]

Thanks for even reading this! I hope you can help me.
1998 T4R 4WD AT 133K.

I am wondering if my symptoms are related to the neutral safety switch.

Sunday - Turn the key and only get a series of electrical clicking sounds from under the hood. Starter doesn't crank. I made sure AT shifter was in Park.

Monday - Battery, Starter Relay both check OK. Fuses are OK.
Pulled starter - It checked OK too! Grrrrrrrr!

Decided to buy new starter instead of re-installing 13 year old original with obvious corrosion issues.

Tuesday - Starter installed but just get clicks again. Grrrrrrr! Played with shifter. Still just clicks. THEN SUDDENLY - she decides to start again and again and again! Wooohooo! I think it's fixed!

Wednesday - Finished re-attaching brake line bracket to frame and muffler bracket. She's completely back together again. Try to crank it but it won't start - all the dash lights come on but turn a little further to crank and EVERYTHING goes DEAD on the dash and I hear a single click.

Then nothing electrical will turn on for about a minute. After a minute, it will do it all over again. If I simply turn the key but don't crank it, all electricals will work. I finally got it to start again multiple times but I have a creepy feeling that this is not the end of my problem.

By the way, the neutral safety switch seems to be functioning properly because it will not allow me to start the vehicle in anything but PARK and NEUTRAL.

So it seems like I am triggering a circuit breaker type protective device. I am at a loss as to where to look next.

 

[Yota_Tech87]

Battery or terminal connection dude. Promise you, you put a battery in and bye bye problem... See it all the time at work with same complaint... Reason all electrical seems ok is because nothing on the vehicle will ever put the same demand on a battery that a starter will... If you had no clicking, no nothing, I may think prndl (park, reverse, nuetral, drive, low.) switch but not with rapid clicking...

Sent from my HTC MYtouch 4G

 

[Lugnutz]

Battery or terminal connection dude. Promise you, you put a battery in and bye bye problem... See it all the time at work with same complaint... Reason all electrical seems ok is because nothing on the vehicle will ever put the same demand on a battery that a starter will... If you had no clicking, no nothing, I may think prndl (park, reverse, nuetral, drive, low.) switch but not with rapid clicking...

Sent from my HTC MYtouch 4G

I pulled battery and tested it and it's fine. 100% charged. Holds under a load.
I respect your advice and expertise, but what makes the dash go completely dead after just one click and it will not come back on until I let it sit for a minute? My terminals are tight. If I turn ignition key but don't crank it, the lights all come on and everything seems fine. Then attempt to crank it and CLICK, and then headlights and all other electrical go dead for a minute.

Just went out and started it and it cranks fine.

I'll grant you the benefit of the doubt outa respect for the help you are giving me and your work experience, but this seems too simple. I hope you are right.

 

[JohnsD90]

I pulled battery and tested it and it's fine. 100% charged. Holds under a load.
I respect your advice and expertise, but what makes the dash go completely dead after just one click and it will not come back on until I let it sit for a minute? My terminals are tight. If I turn ignition key but don't crank it, the lights all come on and everything seems fine. Then attempt to crank it and CLICK, and then headlights and all other electrical go dead for a minute.

Just went out and started it and it cranks fine.

I'll grant you the benefit of the doubt outa respect for the help you are giving me and your work experience, but this seems too simple. I hope you are right.

Pull a battery from another car at your house or buddies truck and see if it works, you did ask for help.

 

[Yota_Tech87]

I promise you. I'll honor you the offer of paying for your battery if it doesn't fix it... Only other thing could be a big electrical issue but seeing as it runs fine other than this, unlikely

Sent from my HTC MYtouch 4G

 

[Nelsonmd]

Yeah, the symptoms you describe are EXACTLY what happens when your battery is dead or bad.. I had the Park/N switch go bad on my old car and it behaved differently than what you describe. The dash came on, but when I turned the key to the start position, I got absolutely nothing, no click, no nothing. It can be intermittent, but you for sure don't get clicks.

 

[Yota_Tech87]

Yeah, the symptoms you describe are EXACTLY what happens when your battery is dead or bad.. I had the Park/N switch go bad on my old car and it behaved differently than what you describe. The dash came on, but when I turned the key to the start position, I got absolutely nothing, no click, no nothing. It can be intermittent, but you for sure don't get clicks.

Precisely! Thank you! Exactly my point!

 

[Tucson4runner]

And (drum roll).... Did it work? Had same problem. Swapped battery. Works. Gotta say guy knows his stuff.

 

[Lugnutz]

I agree. Thanks It must be the battery or a bad cable connection.

Please don't mistake my questioning about other possibilities. I doubted it was a battery problem for the following reasons, which I did not originally tell in my story because I didn't think it was interesting enough to tell.
1. I tried jumper cables from another running car with a good battery.
2. I used another different battery in my garage direct to the truck cables with the truck battery disconnected.
3. I took my battery to Autozone and it tested good.

The above 3 steps all convinced me that it was not battery related.

However, I must admit that you are right because all other systems check out fine. Perhaps my cables were loose although they seemed fine.

You all have been great and I'm grateful for your help.

 

[gotsum411]

I am having some similar issues with my 96 SR5, I replaced, the starter relay, starter, and tested the battery. Everything seems to check out. I was able to get the starter to crank by jumping the 3,5 pins on the relay so I believe my issue is either the ignition switch or neutral safety switch. Anyone have any other ideas. I checked all the fuses and they are all good.

 

[Toyo2000]

I am having some similar issues with my 96 SR5, I replaced, the starter relay, starter, and tested the battery. Everything seems to check out. I was able to get the starter to crank by jumping the 3,5 pins on the relay so I believe my issue is either the ignition switch or neutral safety switch. Anyone have any other ideas. I checked all the fuses and they are all good.

Did you ever figure this out? Mine is doing the same thing.

 

[BenJH]

Hi all, I've got a question that I'm having trouble finding the answer to. I live in Colorado and recently traveled to low elevation (~500ft) and obviously noticed a large power difference. Just for kicks I thought I'd start from a stop at full throttle to see the acceleration difference vs Colorado. The rpms went way up and the car didn't move. I noticed the transmission shifted to neutral. I thought maybe the lever got bumped and put it back in drive and tried again. It went to neutral again. At this point I stopped trying to test it and drove normally and everything was fine. I've gone full throttle from a stop here in Colorado and never had this issue. Has anyone had this happen to them before or know why this would happen?

 

[Devbot]

Hi all, I've got a question that I'm having trouble finding the answer to. I live in Colorado and recently traveled to low elevation (~500ft) and obviously noticed a large power difference. Just for kicks I thought I'd start from a stop at full throttle to see the acceleration difference vs Colorado. The rpms went way up and the car didn't move. I noticed the transmission shifted to neutral. I thought maybe the lever got bumped and put it back in drive and tried again. It went to neutral again. At this point I stopped trying to test it and drove normally and everything was fine. I've gone full throttle from a stop here in Colorado and never had this issue. Has anyone had this happen to them before or know why this would happen?

I have no comment on the issue but you're comment about power gain made me laugh. 500ft and below is where I live and a couple years ago I was driving on this mountain pass here in Washington that's about the same elevation of Denver - and my car was so damn winded I was baffled how people even own these trucks over there, at least without a supercharger. Granted it was a constant incline too, but I was screaming just trying to go 65 or whatever it was. Crazy amount of difference
In regards to your problem, engine and trim options are always important information to include

 

[spartacus]

Dirty or low atf fluid can effect the shifting.

 

[Bad Luck]

Hi all, I've got a question that I'm having trouble finding the answer to. I live in Colorado and recently traveled to low elevation (~500ft) and obviously noticed a large power difference. Just for kicks I thought I'd start from a stop at full throttle to see the acceleration difference vs Colorado. The rpms went way up and the car didn't move. I noticed the transmission shifted to neutral. I thought maybe the lever got bumped and put it back in drive and tried again. It went to neutral again. At this point I stopped trying to test it and drove normally and everything was fine. I've gone full throttle from a stop here in Colorado and never had this issue. Has anyone had this happen to them before or know why this would happen?

If you have an automatic your shifter linkage may need adjustment and/or the shifter bushings are worn. If you have a manual then that sounds like a synchro issue if it's not staying in gear.

 

[Bash0318]

Cluster

I had a park neutral safety switch error code that would if I remember correctly keep my 99 4Runner from shifting. Ended up I found a forum post that saved me. It was an issue with the flexible circuit board on the back of the instrument cluster. PicknPulled a cluster and my problem was fixed. Something with the park neutral safety switch is routed through the instrument cluster. This was about 10 years ago.