'04 Won't Disengage out of Park...

Hey everyone. First time poster. My 2004 Limited 4runner has recently started having issues with disengaging the automatic transmission lever out of park upon starting up. When pressing the brake to change gear to Reverse or Drive, the lever simply moves right and gets stuck before it can pull backwards into another gear. Started sporadically happening a few months ago, and has become increasingly worse in recent weeks, to the point where I can't really drive it. Spent 20 minutes the other day fiddling with it, and ended up just walking to work because i couldn't get it to work. Clearly theres a communication issue between the brake pedal and the transmission gate, but I thought perhaps some other 4th Gen owners might've had this or similar issues and could lead me in the right direction before I pay someone to fix it for me. Any ideas? Thanks so much!

 

I have the factory manuals at home, I will look and see if there is a switch. When you get it in gear does it drive and shift fine?

 

Thanks for the reply! Yes, the car starts up fine everytime, and if/when I get it into gear to drive, it behaves quite normally. There's a cluster of three lights on the console that come on and off all the time (VSC, ABS, VSC TRAC OFF) when braking (and when attempting to disengage from park), but these don't seem to be related to the gate getting stuck in Park.

 

Ok there is a shift/ lock assembly inside your console where the gearshift is that controls the locking and unlocking of the shift lever. It also has electronics that control VSC, Trac and other things. Send me a PM with your number and I can text you a few pictures from the manual.

 

Picture sent

 

There should be a little square near the top left of the shifter that you can pop up. There's a button under that to push that will let you shift it out of park. I want to say with the Tacoma it's always been a fuse issue that prevents it from happening.

edit: check your brake lights, that's usually the fuse that causes an issue.

 

I have the exact same issue on my 05. I just bought it and can't believe the problems I'm finding. Were you able to fix this? Something I'll need to add to my growing list.

 

Surprisingly this isn't really an issue I've seen too much of. Like I said in a previous post, check your brake lights and fuses. Might be the brake pressure switch worst case scenario, but it's usually a fuse issue.

 

I'm going to guess that shift cables or lock actuator is the issue.....

 

When I bought my 4Runner it was neglected bad by a wife that didn't care..... She had spilled coffee, chocolate milk and numerous other drinks down inside the console. When I would shift from park if felt like crap. I ended up removing the entire console and scrubbing the entire thing in the sink replacing a lot of piece parts, scrubbing the shifting linkage, scrubbing the floor and replacing the carpet. I also found $6 in change inside the console. After all of this mine actually shifts pretty good now. So if you bought it used you might take a look all you need is a Phillips screwdriver.

 

Please HELP..

I recently purchased an 09’ 4Runner through an online police auction. Foolishly. Although it was a recovered theft, I thought SURELY it’s fine; after all, it’s a Toyota. Right?!? Nope.

Had it towed to my house, put a battery on it and had a key made. It cranked right up however when I put it in gear, the engine just revs like it’s in neutral. The reverse works fine, it just won’t move forward..

A neighborhood mechanic convinced me to replace the pressure control solenoid along with fresh, genuine Toyota ATF and filter. Unfortunately, that did not resolve the issue.

Any advice would be infinitely appreciated!!

 

Although i can not help you with your problem, i can welcome you to the forum.

 

Thanks so much. I'm glad to be here!

 

$19 Standard Motor Products SLS-305 Stoplight Switch Assorted, One Size

https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Mot...5------------&vehicleName=2004+Toyota+4Runner

the answer to your problem.

 

I'm new to this forum. I have an 04 4runner with over 200k miles on it and am not in any financial position to buy another vehicle. I recently had a master cylinder go bad and a new one is about what the 4runner is worth. So, I removed the master cylinder and replaced it,through modification to the mount and linkage, with a 1971 Buick skylark mc with a 9" vaccuum booster. I have great brakes now but have to get creative with the wiring. I can not find a wiring diagram for the original master cylinder and was hoping someone may have one. Otherwise I will need to spend a lot of time tracing wires.