Tacoma switched from Drive to Neutral with acceleration

hi,

Yesterday I pushed on the accelerator harder than usual from stopped position, and the strangest thing happened: the shifter went into Neutral. I did this again a little later and noticed that it went into Neutral for a second and just came back into drive by itself. The first time it did it, I had to pull over and put it back into drive since I didn’t know what happened.

It’s a Gen 1 Tacoma 01-04 variants and it has an auto transmission.

 

I've never heard of this before, so hopefully someone else can chime in with more info.

I wonder if the shifter linkage is bent or something. Does the actual shift lever pop into neutral?

 

Engine torque causing the shifter linkage to move

You need to check motor mounts and transmission mounts for structural damage

 

Yes it does. So putting it back into drive just fixes it.

I know for sure the bushings in the Shifter is worn out, because the shifter has play, and a few months ago I tried removing the key from the ignition, but it wouldn’t go out of the ACC position until i wiggled the shifter.

 

Ouch... any idea what could cause this and maybe how to check this?

 

Since you didn't specify what year 1rst gen you have this generation of Tacoma's can 15 to 24 yrs old and have 200k miles plus . Parts do wear out and that holds true for engine and transmission mounts


To check them ...

visually look for torn or separated rubber isolator pads

Cracks in the frame rails or mounts


To test them use a pry brand see if you can move the engine or transmission

 

Start it, and pop the hood. Then give it a few revs by manually moving the throttle cable. It should move a little bit but not that much. I've never really measured that, but I would think less than an inch for sure.

Also just a visual inspection of the motor and trans mounts. Look for cracking in the rubber.

 

Also a symptom of a bad engine or transmission mount is feeling vibration from the floorboard . Also a clunking sound on acceleration

 

Okay I’ll try to see what I can do tonight. Any idea if this is an easy fix or will it require a professional transmission mechanic?

 

It can be repaired easily in your driveway

 

Will do. What is the possibility of it just being the physical shifter having too much play?

 

A

Awesome! May I solicit a YouTube video or possible pictures from you to show me what I’m looking for?

 

Yes a worn shifter can cause problems also

 

Okay, all this sounds like a good learning opportunity for me. I’ll knock this out this weekend.

 

There's many YouTube videos showing how to diagnose and replace motor mounts

 

On it.

 

I'd believe worn shifter or trans mounts. Alot of guys that off-road have this problem when hitting hard bumps when offroading, it'll pop itself into neutral.

 

just curious here... is this a column shift automatic or a floor shift automatic?

 

It’s on the floor. Are any Tacoma’s column shifts?

 

yes, one of my residents has one... odd looking, very odd looking.