Shifter Moving Without Locking

Hello everyone,

I recently replaced the shifter bushings in a 2001 Limited 2WD U.S. 4Runner, but when I reassembled everything I found that the shifter moves through Reverse, Neutral, Drive, and 2nd gear without requiring the button on the shifter knob to be depressed. It will move through them without locking in both directions. It will not shift into L without the button being depressed, but it will move from L to 2nd gear without depressing the button.

The shifter will only lock in park and L. I have taken the shifter out multiple times and I ensured the dowel is in the correct position. I also tightened the nut on the linkage under the vehicle while it was in park since I read that puts in the correct position. I also adjusted the red plastic triangle that holds the spring on the dowel assembly multiple times to see if it made a difference, but it had no change. I am failing to remember how the shifter should lock in what positions. I am at a point of not knowing what to inspect or adjust next.

 

Here is a picture of the red plastic triangle on top of the spring that goes on top of the dowel assembly that pushes the dowel down and makes contact with the actuator to allow the shifter to unlock when pressed down then return up and lock when released. I adjusted this multiple times but there was no difference. It currently sits about halfway on the threads.

 

Going down...It should lock in:
Park
Drive
2

Going up it should lock in:
N
R

This is how my 2002 works.

 

The button is only there to prevent a bad shift by the owner. So it works differently depending on which direction you are shifting. 2-> L is BAD so button required. L->2 is OK so no button required.

Personally I push the button to get out of Park and slap it down to Drive like it owes me money.

 

Thank you for the information everyone. So it looks like the problem with the shifter is that it's not locking in drive and 2 when going down and is not locking in neutral and reverse when going up. I think something must have gone wrong when I removed the shifter knob, which I shouldn't have done during the bushing replacement. I know there is a rubber grommet and brass bushing that I can replace at the end of the linkage where it connects to the transmission body that can tighten up the vertical play of the shifter, but I do not see that resolving the locking problem.

 

Here is an update on what I have found out new. I used the diagrams on partsouq to help me better understand how the automatic shifter locks, and I found a thread that talks about a component that I didn't consider. A person who had worn shifter bushings like I did found that the shift lock solenoid that catches the dowel pin also experienced significant wear from the play in the shifter due to the bushings being worn out. However, this seems to be more of an issue with the shifter dowel pin not entering the shift lock solenoid when shifted into park. The shifter also contains a plastic part that is called the shift stopper. I will be replacing both parts and will report what happens after that.