2008 V6 stuck in "Park"

I was attempting a brake controller installation on my "new to me" 2008 SR5/Sport Tacoma, 28,000kms, last night and depressed the parking brake for the first time. When I went to drive it today, encountered the "locked in Park" mode for the first time. I have been driving it for a week without problems (1400kms). Read the manual and found out how to override it and got to the dealer to pick up a missing harness for the brake controller and asked about the "park" issue. Was told I probably blew a fuse for the shifter lockout, which should be a 15A. I got home, checked ALL the fuses (under hood and under dash)and replaced a 30A Trailer brake fuse that was blown, but still have to use the over ride button to shift out of Park. Anybody else encounter this problem or have any educated suggestions? I did get the brake controller installed and seemingly working OK (still have to hook up and try setting it with the trailer connected). Thanks for any help. P.S. the dealer says he hasn't heard of this yet as '08s are still pretty new.

 

Just the obvious: Are you pressing the brake pedal when you go to shift into D? It won't come out of Park unless your foot is on the brake.

 

where did you splice into the brake system? seems like the tran doesnt thing your stepping on the brake to allow to shit out of park. That blown fuse could mean you wired something up wrong.

 

I prefer to have it in park and shit outside of the vehicle. lol

Murph

 

This has happened to me before. On mine (2009), it's a 10A fuse that controls the "park lock" thing. Are your ABS and Traction control indicators lit up in the gauge cluster? if yes then it is prob this fuse. Look in your manual under "fuses - engine compartment", on mine it's fuse #4, a 10A, and it shuts down a bunch of stuff if blown... and activates the park lock.

 

Thanks nvdeserted. After reading your second post I went to look in my manual and decided to recheck all the fuses again. Your mentioning about multiple functions on one fuse got me wondering and I started systematically pulling each one. Found a 10A which was labeled "Brake" that was blown, changed it and what do you know, she shifted just fine. For anybody out there who encounters this issue I would pass on to check all fuses, not just what might seem logical. Thanks again for the help. This site is great, thanks for sharing the experience.

 

Good. Glad it helped.

 

Yeah, apparently Toyota also noticed this fuse is easy to pop; my truck came with 1 spare 10A and 1 spare 15A, despite there being pretty much 30 fuses from 1A to 50A in there.

I was also surprised to learn how much is dependant on that single 10A fuse: brake lights, park lock, ABS, Traction Control, and a couple of other things all on 1 fuse!