V6 Automatic: suddenly hard to get in and out of Park

Here's some background:

Feb 2011, I bought an '05 Tacoma V6 Auto TRD sport with only 33K on it. As it is 6 years old already, I figured I should have all fluids changed so I did the oil, differentials and transfer case myself. Next, after reading the AT Fluid change thread I was confident I could drop the transmission pan dropped and have the metal cleaned out of the pan, a new filter installed and then flush the system. June 2011, A local Valvoline shop gave me a price I could not refuse and they attempted this but 2 of the first 3 bolts broke trying to remove the pan so they stopped there (probably need to soak them with PB Blaster a few days before). He already dumped the fluid so he topped it up and they sent me to AAMCO to get the broken bolts replaced, which I did. The truck seemed fine afterwards.

I have another beater commuter car that I drive most of the time to keep miles down on the Taco, so it sits idle alot until now.
The truck tranny seemed fine until recently, this is a new problem. And, the tranny works fine when driving, it's just getting in and out of Park and Drive.

Now, the last few times I drove the truck it is very hard to get out of park and into gear. I am almost forcing it from Park and it has to go to 4 to get to D. It is tough getting back into park as well.

Now, it's getting wintery in New England and I need my 4x4 truck. I drove it last night for an hour and it is no different when warm.

My research shows it can be realated to brake lights but they are all working. I may try the fluid level check myself...not the most intuitive thing but please let me know if that is my next step or if there are other common things I should check.

Thanks!

 

check you break light switch or shift inter-lock solinoid....

 

Check post 9 in this thread, had a similar issue and this was the fix, worth a look at least
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/103889-automatic-shifter-problem.html

 

Thanks all! - With the Thanksgiving Holiday craziness, I did not have time to look into my shifting problem. However, I have been driving the Tacoma regularly and that seems to have everything to do with the problem because it has disappeared...fixed itself. The shifting in and out of Park/Drive is butter just like the day I bought it. Seems to have everything to do with the truck sitting idle for a couple weeks at a time. I read a couple posts where guys take the console apart and 're-lube' the shift assembly so I'll look for details on that. If anyone cares to post a link with details on how to do this I would greatly appreciate it. If I find one I'll link it here.