What has made my 5th gen gear shifter super squeaky?

My 5th gen gear shifter squeaks and squeals bad in both directions. Maybe started a year ago, bought new 2016. It's pretty annoying. Even more annoying my wife says it's my fault.
Spray lube had no effect.
Thanks for any guidance

 

perhaps you’ve got some debris in there. Maybe take it apart and blow it out with some compressed air.

 

Or spilled soda?
Nothing will ruin an interior quicker than soda.

 

There's certainly been little spills, probably coffee as well. Doesn't help it's the wife n babies weekday daily.
YouTube knows all!

 

Neutral safety switch is starting to go.
It starts that way, then the gear indicator malfunction and dash lights will be next.
Get underneath and start soaking it with penetrating fluid for the inevitable swap.
Its on the passenger side of the transmission.


https://youtu.be/R9FUgjwq1_o

 

With the needle bearing soon to follow...

 

@glwood54 please explain more thanks !

 

@EC15 thank-you very much; penetrating fluid as in a lubricant?

 

Penetrants are basically a lubricant that creep very well.

If you don't have any, order a can of

$32 Aero Kroil Lubricant, Aerosol Can, 13 Fluid Ounces

Kroil and spray a bit on every bolt you remove. I sprayed a bit on a ~120k mile turbo manifold on my Mazda a few times over the course of a couple days and was able to remove the turbo and manifold without snapping any studs - and was able to reuse all hardware.

 

Sorry, lousy joke. What @EC15 posted seemed completely unrelated to what you were asking about, so I threw something else also in to the mix...please ignore.

 

Refer to what @MartianArmada said.
Penetrating fluid like Kroil or PB Blaster can help.
The NSS gets rusted to the shaft and can be a bitch to take out.

Unrelated?

 

I have the b'laster penetrating catalyst, it would be perfect no?

 

If the squeak is coming directly from the shifter/console area I doubt it's a Neutral Safety Switch causing the noise, if the squeak seems to be coming from deep under the shifter/floor and more on the passenger's side then maybe it could the the switch.

That being said it certainly wouldn't hurt to spray a little lube on the switch.

 

That's it.
Keep in mind, it is not intended to make your shifter feel better. It's mainly to aid with removing the old NSS.

 

The squeaks do sound like it's coming from the shifter/console and the shifter feels gummed up but that's to Toyotas credit for making the linkages so smooth where a switch on the passenger side of the transmission feels like it's right there.

Same symptoms OP described happen on my last 5th gen

 

As a young man when I was introduced to the concept of penetrating oil I ignored the part about applying it several times over the course of a couple of days, but that part is really important. Patience is key. Something I lacked as a young man. ;-)

 

Nowadays I usually hit any bolt/nut on a car I'm about to remove to just avoid any risks of breakage or struggle.

 

@Captain Spalding @MartianArmada wise advice, love that. It's like you could predict I definitely did not re-apply multiple times over multiple days, before deeming lube not working

 

@EC15 thank you!
Do ya'll know if I can post short smart phone videos on here? To hear the sound

 

It might be easiest to upload to YouTube as an unlisted video and share the link here.

 

My gear shift has recently started squeaking when shifting in and out of park . It kind of sounds like a mouse, and it definitely sounds like it’s coming from the console area. Did your sound start like this also?
A few months back I was getting a hard shift and I sprayed some lubricant on the linkage on the drivers side and on the neutral safety switch (passenger side) and that solved the problem, smooth as butter. But I don’t think this squeaking sound is coming from underneath the vehicle.

 

Mine sounds like a mouse just like that, yes.
I mean my sound didn't 'start like this', it just is this; a squeaky shifter. So you're saying you solved the hard shift but your squeak is new?

 

Exactly, I solved the hard shifting several months ago and all was good. The squeaking started a few weeks ago. I think I’ll get under the truck and give everything a good spray again and see if that has any effect on the squeaking. If not I’ll have to open the console and check it out. I mean it really does sound like it’s coming from the console, but maybe not.

 

Ah I hear ya, thank-you. I must take apart the console and investigate, perhaps tnite. It's bloody hot out haha

 

I'll have to YouTube what exactly I'm looking for

 

@EC15
@AuSeeker
@NOS4A2-1

https://youtu.be/X5LEQWNbW00

 

oh man, this won’t play for me. I couldn’t get under the truck today, it’s been raining like a Monsoon all day! So no update.

 

Sounds like what happened to mine.
Looks like the shifter is not as smooth either right?

 

Shifter seems the same, I haven't noticed it necessarily less smooth. Just squeaks, and the noise sounds close by. But like ya'll have said, could be deceiving, and could be irrelevant where it sounds like it's coming from and I indeed do have bigger problem... Or it's a 7 year old Runner with a console I've never cleaned or lubed