How to Replace 2G Gearshift Lever

Welcome to PriusChat! Search for this PDF:"Stereo Accessory Installation Guide
2004 Toyota Prius
v1.03 : October 5, 2004.
Created by Chris Dragon"
You will find detailed pictures in there.

For the far left (and far right) vent I found it easiest to pull the bottom edge off first, and then the top corners. Do this at a well lit and clean area if possible since the yellow plastic clip may fly off - happened to me once before.

 

Thanks, I got it.

 

These videos are private How can I view them I'm logged in My 08 Prius has the same issue. Dealer wont fix
I need to get a movie of the issue they said. I have the 100k BTB warranty. Car has 80k

Thanks

Greg

 

Should be fixed now. I tried to turn off my Google+ account and apparently that also cancels your linked Youtube account.

 

Thanks so much for figuring this out, Nickbike. I've lived with the clicking and sticking gear shift lever for about 10 years and got so used to it that it didn't bother me, but now that my wife is driving the car it sometimes really messes her up. I had the dealer "fix" the problem twice when it was still under warranty but whatever they did to fix it (heat gun the warped plastic flat, maybe?) didn't last more than a few months, so I gave up.

If you follow my stereo install guide mentioned a few posts back, you have to remove only the left silver panel, panel below the stereo, panel below the steering wheel, above the steering wheel, and then the silver panel with the shift lever in it. The shift lever mechanism does not need to be removed like it was in the video.

1. Unscrew the shifter knob. Mine was easy to unscrew, probably because the dealer already unscrewed it in the past. If yours has never been unscrewed, other posters say it takes a lot of force to break the "threadlock" glue on the screw threads.
2. Unsnap two clips above, and one clip on the bottom of the faceplate containing the grooves the gear shift stem travels in. The clip on the bottom is actually on the left side of a square protrusion.
3. I could not remove the faceplate without removing a small green light with a black base stuck into the right side of the protrusion. To be removed, the light must be rotated 90 degrees using a small needle nose pliers or nimble fingers. I rotated clockwise but I think either way would work.
   
4. Unlike in the video, where the plastic had a bowed C shape, my plastic has an S shape.
   
5. The top curve of the S hits the edge of the faceplate whenever I moved the shifter to the left. The picture shows where the plastic rubs (circled in red).
   
6. The back of the plastic has a bunch of grease and a roughly triangular piece of plastic that rotates on a pivot at the top of the picture.
   
7. It would be nice to just cut off the whole left side of the plastic so it doesn't need to slip out from under the faceplate at all, but that pivot on the back limits how much can be cut off. So I cut a divot into the area that was bowing upward the most, then added MP2 (multi-purpose 2) grease to the front where I could see the plastic had been rubbing.
   
8. The shifter now moves smoothly after snapping the faceplate back on. The snap on the bottom is hard to get on correctly and requires pulling the faceplate back, pushing it to the right, and then snapping it on. I think there's some notch in the protrusion that has to line up for it to slide on correctly. See the picture for what the snap looks like when it's snapped on correctly (I got the picture from the video).
   
9. Don't forget to put the green light back in.
10. When you screw the gear shift knob back on, don't screw it too far or it will actually rub on the faceplate.
11. Put the dashboard back together in reverse order.

I'm a little worried the plastic might warp further and start catching the faceplate again over time. If it does, I may cut down the edge of the faceplate instead of the plastic. The other option is to cut off the left side of the plastic including the pivot and stick a pop grommet in or punch holes and tie it with fishing line or something. The hole would need to be loose since it would cause the triangle to swing on a different arc that doesn't match the rounded cutout on the other side.

 

I've done teardowns of both the Gen III and Gen II shifters.

Gen III shifter teardown and examination... | PriusChat

The apparent offending piece is the PET plastic dust cover that resides under the shift gate. It warps and deforms in heat.

The shifter will work just fine, if you just remove the offending dust cover. Just don't drop anything into the shifter that will jam it.

 

Do you need to disconnect the 12v battery first? Or does the car even notice the missing gear lever when you unplug it?

 

I don't think I disconnected the battery. As long as the car is completely off, you should be fine. If I was a lawyer, I'd tell you to disconnect the 12V battery and the high voltage battery, but I'm not, so I won't . . .

 

There's no need to unplug the gear shift at all so no need to unplug the aux battery. The green light I mention removing only turns on if you turn on the headlights, so don't turn on the headlights and it should be fine.

BTW, my gear shift has been click-free for the last two months so it seems likely the fix will last.

 

I unplugged the 12v when I swapped my gear shifter out. I also threw a little salt over my shoulder, all in the name of avoiding spurious error codes.

 

Mwester do you know the type of bulb for the shifter ? And what year is yours

 

Hope you get a response, this thread is almost 5 years old.

If not, you can see the bulb clearly in post #25 on page 3, in the first image.

 

An oldie but a goodie....

 

Awesome thank you

 

In our 2005 Prius we have the problem of the Lever Assembly going back to Neutral after putting it in drive, but only in cold weather (10 degrees F or lower). We found that it stays in D after the car warms up. Also just tested heating the unit with a blow dryer for three minutes and that solves the problem for the time being. I plan to get a used part and install it myself. Thank you all for sharing your learning!

 

Thanks to all those who have posted above, I was able to trace the mysterious clicking noise from the gearshift which began during the very cold weather we had in the UK back in January 23. However, I approached the 'fix' slightly differently. The clicking seems to come from the moving plate striking the edge of the cover, so rather than trimming the plate, I trimmed the cover as shown in the photo. More plastic could be removed as it does not show once reassembled. For the benefit of those with RHD, Just follow Patrick Wong's method, but of course the first section to be removed will be on the right. I found it easier to remove the connectors and put the trim to one side, rather than leaving it all connected - the connectors have a small piece to push in before they pull out and are pretty much 'idiot proof' so putting them back on the wrong part should not be possible. If you need to replace the whole gearshift, used ones are on the Bay today for just £15 post free.