Stuck in park

Hey guys, my '09 tacoma gets stuck in park. This can happen when I start the engine, or put it in park while running.

Sometimes if I pump the brake, it will shift, but sometimes I will shut it off and restart, an then it will shift.

Sometimes the ABS light and stability control light will come on, then go off after a bit, or go off after using the brakes a few times, or stay on til I restart. This has happened about 6 times this month. It's been down to the 30 every night.

I'm thinking a plug has got corroded somewhere & there's a low voltage on the ABS system, telling the computer the brake pressure is low.

But that's just WAG.

I have no Idea about the interlock system on this truck.

 

When it won't come out of park see if you have brake lights.it may be the brake light switch at the pedal.

 

Stuck brake light switch?

That would be easy to test.

So obvious that I missed it.
(I was still thinking of cables stretched or motor mounts sagging, as I fear the Toyota sagging motor mount syndrome.)

Thank you 10x!

 

Post up what you find.

 

When it is stuck in park, you can pop out the the little square plastic cover just above the "P" next to your gear shift. There is a button under the plastic cover that will allow you to shift out of Park if the brake switch is sticking.

 

Then he may be driving around with no brake lights.

 

Exactly!
They'd only be working part time.

I also had a couple brief episodes where the brakes were very grabby at low speed. I didn't notice any dash lights when it happened.

 

Definitely check your brake lights.

On my Honda Ridgeline I installed a back up camera. In the process I mixed up some wires and popped the fuse for the brake lights. The truck would start up and show no indicators of a problem but was stuck in P. quite a while I discovered the simple mistake and it was a easy fix. Since it is intermittent for you, my guess is the switch at the brake peddle.

 

I played with the switch a bit, cleaned the fuzz off of it, made sure it was plugged in and working.

The brake lights work OK, but we'll see what happens to them the next time it sticks.

For $35 I'll just pick up a spare on the way home, but for today, no problems so far.

 

Pretty sure your fix is none of the above. My shifter did this when i got my truck. Additionally it popped out of drive and into neutral when driving (scares the shit outta you haha). I had to lube a shifting mechanism on the side of the tranny under the truck. Follow the shift cable from the cab and youll see what im talking about. If i recall right, it was triangular in shape and has contacts on one side that when you move the shifter, connects the contacts appropriately to shift the truck. I hit it with some wd-40 and 1.5 years later everything is perfect.

Let us know what happens

 

I think that's the neutral safety switch.

Mine has never popped out of gear. Never heard of an automatic doing that.

 

Well I did 2 things guys. I tightened the battery cables and cleaned the brake switch and the problems are gone.

I may have had a slight low voltage condition or some such, plus a lazy switch.

But, the brakes were grabby at times. I'm not sure why that happened but it's gone too.

 

I'm having the same problem, I have to it the button above "P" to get into gear, and the brakes seem to be grabby at times.

I'll go clean the brake switch, but i thought it was my brake booster failing, I have a 2006 TRD off-road if that matters.

 

The brake switch is more often the cause for not being able to shift out of park.

The grabby brakes are a separate issue which has nothing to do with the switch.

 

I changed that switch. It took about 30 seconds once I got down there.
Twist, pull, unsnap, snap, push, twist, done!