Stiff Gear Shifter

Must not be searching with the right key words because I can't find any information on this. My 2016 Tacoma, Sport AT, gear shifter has become quite stiff to move from P to D or R. Anyone else experienced this & what's the fix?

 

Maybe linkage is froze up, cure buy a manual

 

Did you get this figured out? I damn near had to slam my shifter in to park today.

 

I took the counsel around the shifter off & sprayed some lub into the linkage as best I could. It seems to have helped. The problem was intermittent. Sometimes it was bad & sometimes not noticeable. So far, so good.

 

The stiff shifter problem came back with a vengence the past couple weeks. As well the check engine light came on. A fellow at work put his scanner on it & the check engine light was caused by a Park/Neutral position switch. So, into Toyota service it went today. 1/2 hour of diagnostics charged to tell me I need a new Park/Neutral switch assembly and that this could also be the cause of the stiff shifter. To the tune of $600. CDN. I questioned him on the "this could also be the cause of the stiff shifter". Has there not been any other Tacoma's with a stiff shifter and that's why they're not sure that's the cause? He said there's been other cases of stiff shifters & they were confident this is the cause. The comment was purely an a$$ covering statement in case of something unexpected.
The Park/Neutral switch assembly will be 2 weeks getting to the dealer. Which tells me there's none in the warehouse, either because they've never replaced one before (unlikely) or there's been a higher than expected demand for them.
I'll keep you posted. I'm surprised there hasn't been any other incidents of Tacoma stiff shifters on this forum.

 

Maybe it's not as wide spread a problem as you think it is? People here will bitch about anything, if this was a big problem I'm sure there would be a 1000 posts a day on it.Hopefully that fixes it for you.

 

A quick check to see if it is the stiff shifter cause is to remove the linkage and see if the shifter frees up. Too many dealers perform swapnastics, instead of diagnostics! All on the customer's dime!

 

Interesting thing, the shifter has been extremely hard to move the last couple days, including driving the truck to the dealer this morning. When I drove away from the dealer, the shifter was supper easy to move. I think they already did something to relieve the problem.

 

Well the shifter became hard to move again last week. Called the dealer & had the new Park/Neutral switch installed yesterday. The mechanic said it's not an uncommon problem with their trucks. He didn't say whether that it's the Tacoma's or the Tundra's. When I was google searching the Park/Neutral switch, I came up with a lot of posts for 1st & 2nd gen Tacoma's & for other truck brands. Not much for the 3rd gen Tacoma's. Maybe they're too new.

 

Hello, can you post your receipt of the work that was done? I have the same issue and P0705 DTC is on as well. Thanks in advance.

 

2016 Tacoma 4x4. My wife and I travel to SC (grandkids) from OH often. My Tacoma stays in OH parked for 2-4 weeks. Upon return, ALWAYS very stiff when moving shifter. This time it was stiff yet again AND threw a code P0705. TRAC indicated off, and D (drive) would not indicate/light on dash display or shifter. With engine off but key on, worked the shifter between P and D for easily 5 minutes to free up the shifter. FINALLY it loosened up but still no D indicator so I worked it some more. Bingo. D started to indicate. I cleared the P0705 and all now back to normal. I guess I'll have to find the TRS (also known as PNP) switch/sensor and lube it silly. My guess is weather has gotten into it creating corrosion.

 

Razman, Let us know how you make out lubing up that switch. Mines been replaced now but I expect it'll be a problem again down the road. Some pics would be great.

 

Truck has been sitting for about 2 weeks due to telework. Went to move it to cut the grass yesterday and the shifter was giving me a hell of a time. D wasn't illuminated as razman said above. If lubing helps I'll definitely be doing that.

 

Had to do the same with my2016

 

I have a 2017 Tacoma. Same thing is happening to me. If I let my truck sit for a week or two, sometimes longer, the shifter become really stiff. A few times t D light didn't come on. Everytime I take it to the dealer, the problem goes away. Still looking for an answer on what is causing it. Someone said possibly corrosion buildup on the cable from sitting.

 

Sounds like you need a new Park/Neutral switch. See post #9

 

Thanks XTC500. I'm hoping they will work with me on the price since it's been going on for a while. I'm out of warranty and think this is gonna hurt m wallet. lol

 

Has anyone else heard of others having the same problem? I'm wondering how wide spread this issue is. Toyota claims they haven't heard of any issues like this.

 

I did, I sprayed some silicone spray down into the boot and so far so good. I got 85000 miles on my 2016 Off Road and it started at about 80000. I plan to ask the dealer ship at my next service and see what they say.

 

Well the problem has happened again. The shifter was stiff to move and the D would not light up. Now it's at the dealership and they can't duplicate the problem. Also I'm out of warranty so I'll be stuck with some huge bill. I told them about the Park/Neutral switch but they don't agree that is the problem.