1st gen tundra, gear selector occasionally hard

[mikeinaustin]

Hey folks, i have 2002 v8 tundra, automatic with 170k miles.

Today for the first time, i noticed it was hard to move the gear selector from park into drive. later, it was a little hard moving it back from drive into park. didn't seem like the transmission itself was having any issue shifting gears, just the lever was harder than usual. this has never happened before.

i tested this for a while on a back street, and everything was smooth. after many shifts, it happened again, going from park into drive, going back from drive into park was normal once again. tested a while longer, could not duplicate.

now on a possibly unrelated note...a few weeks ago my wife could not get the ignition key to turn. i tried the usual, wiggling the steering wheel and the key, etc. sprayed some dry lube in the key hole, etc. nothing worked. went inside to research, came back outside and the key turned fine. this issue has not happened again.

any connection between the two? does the brake pedal have to be pressed in order for key to turn and shifter to be moved out of park? if so, could this be the root cause of both? how does the vehicle know the brake is pressed in order to "allow" other things to happen?

i see some folks have had the hard gear selector and have:

1) re-lubed the cable, especially where it attaches to engine/transmission.
2) replaced the entire cable
3) had a true transmission failure requiring rebuild.

If you have any thoughts on this issue, or can give me try a,b,c, please do so. i certainly hope this isn't the beginning of needing a new tranny.


thanks in advance!

 

[Towncivilian]

Try engaging the parking brake before shifting into P - for example, come to a complete stop, engage the parking brake, release the foot brake, then select P. I found this makes shifting out of P significantly easier for my Pathfinder, it may work for your P -> D issue as well. I have no clue why you'd have trouble shifting from D -> P though.

 

[chrome]

Originally Posted By: mikeinaustin
any connection between the two? does the brake pedal have to be pressed in order for key to turn and shifter to be moved out of park? if so, could this be the root cause of both? how does the vehicle know the brake is pressed in order to "allow" other things to happen?


Yes, there's a switch at the brake pedal, it activates the brake lights, but also used to tell the ECU that you have the brake pedal depressed. Sounds like you may have a failing switch.

 

[CBR.worm]

Hmmm. it's not in 4 wheel drive when this happens is it? I seem to remember mine binding up at some point so badly that I had to take the transfer case actuator apart to get everything to release.

I guess you could potentially put the parking brake on and disconnect the cable and run through the positions at the tranny - making sure there was no load on it first - ie put on the parking brake before shifting slowly into park.