Gear shifter sticks and park button fails

I have a 2005 Prius and about once every 6 months or so, I start the car and move the shifter either to reverse or drive but the gear position does not change. I tried brake drive and reverse no change. Then I shut the car off and start it again and everything works great. I live in central Florida so no temperature involved. has anyone else had this problem.

 

This was my problem too, the knob has thread lock on the threads its not high strenth so its not too hard to unscrew, knob is the female threads. The piece I trimed off was only 1/32 of an inch or equal to the pivoting part, works like new. The job is easy to do, 10 minutes. Toyota should have safety recalled this part as when the shifter sticks in the drive position when the park button is pressed it stays in gear. My 16 year old is going to start driving and it sticking was unacceptable. I was considering the replacement of the shifter when I came across this fix, thanks. Jim 2004 with 106,000 miles on it, runs like new! never needs a repair and is the most dependable car I have ever owned, other than my 2006 prius

 

Thank you flocculus and Chris! I've just been accepting this clicky/sticky shifter issue on my 04 Prius for the last half-decade or so. As of today, thanks to these instructions, it's gone!

 

So thank you everyone! But my question is this, my gear shift has been clicking for the last 3 or 4 months, but the last thread by karmavore makes it sound like no catastrophe will come from just leaving it as is (since karmavore went for half a decade with the annoyance). I have an '04 prius with over 228,000 miles on it and I am loath to do anything (that I might mess up) that will send me into the dealer for an expensive fix at this point. So, can I just leave it alone without worrying about some bigger problem?

 

Yes, if you can live with the gear selector as-is, then you don't need to take any action.

 

flocculus's instructions worked for me as well. However, I was ambivalent about trimming the plastic dust cover b/c that may cause the joint where the articulating vertical moving piece joins to break more easily. I believe the problem is that in hot weather, the plastic heats up and deforms. So I softened the plastic with a hair dryer bent it back to its original flat shape. Hopefully it will stay that way.

 

It's best just to replace it with a salvage shifter, I got one off of ebay for $65. It took me 30 minutes to replace the part. First remove the left side air vent by just pulling away from the dash. Next, unscrew the two Philips screws under the steering wheel holding the bottom dash cover. Remove the top dash cover just above the steering wheel with the power button, next pull down the bottom dash cover. This now will free the vent cover that is located around the shifter. Pull this one out just like the left side however you need to unplug the Parking button. Use a 12mm socket to unbolt the shifter (3 bolts). Pull out the shifter and unplug the two electrical connectors, with all of these press in the plastic tab release them from connection. Replace with the new shifter.

 

I also had not heard of this issue before. This sounds like a P switch problem.

If the parking pawl was having a problem then a DTC should be logged when you turn off the car which forces shifting into P. Several DTCs are devoted to tracking performance of the parking lock motor that actuates the parking pawl.

 

Yeah, I hadn't heard of this either, but they sounds like a candidate for a NHTSA safety complaint. Enough of these might cause a safety recall as I've seen all sorts of recalls on other cars relating to park and shift position before.

 

My car is only 2 months old, but when I went to new car orientation they advised me to shut the car off in "P" and not drive. May not apply to your situation.

 

It shouldn't matter. At least on Gen 2, when you push power while still in Drive, you'll see the car briefly go to Park before powering off.

 

Good to know.

 

I have had this problem with my 2005 for some time. When the dealer told me the part was $600, I just got used to manually returning the lever to neutral. Then I went to a fancy wedding with valet parking, and narrowly avoided disaster. The attendant brought my car up, pressed park and started to get out of the car. The car was still in drive and started going forward. Fortunately, he was astute and stepped on the brake. I got in the passenger side and put the shift lever back in neutral. The driveway was downhill, and I could have easily had a crash. So, time to fix it!

I was skeptical a warped dust shield could cause the problem - it definitely felt like a broken spring. But I must say, the previous posters were correct, that was all it was. This is easily a DIY job. It took me 1-1/2 hours. There are good links to explain how to get the dashboard off:

http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/chris-dragon-dash.pdf

Prius MFD Touchscreen Repair

And here is a link to my Picasa album on how to remove the gear selector switch and repair it:

Picasa Web Albums - David - prius_gear_shift

I took a different approach to fixing it. I didn't think trying to re-bend the dust shield with a hair dryer would last. This problem is basically a minor design defect. So, I instead decided to fill in the hollow cavity where the dust shield was getting stuck with Bondo. A couple of general points:

1) There are 4 dashboard pieces to remove, which basically snap in place. There are a grand total of 2 screws to remove to get the 4 dash pieces off. The snaps undo fairly easily; much easier than taking off inside door panels. Just pull the dash pieces straight back toward you, if you are sitting in the driver's seat. You are going to remove the vent on the left side of the steering wheel, then the lower dash cover (this is single two-color piece), the top dashboard, and then the right vent. It is easier to leave the lower dash piece on the floor than trying to undo the hood release cable.

2) The electrical connectors all have locking tabs. If you are pressing the locking tab correctly, the connector should come off easily. DON"T FORCE IT!

3) There are 3 bolts holding the gear shift selector switch, with 12 mm heads. It looks like overkill for holding what is basically a 4 position electrical switch in place, put these are the correct bolts.

4) If you have never worked with Bondo before, I would suggest wasting a little on a test batch. It is a bit tricky to judge how much hardener to add. The hardener is red and the Bondo is gray so it is easy to see that you have mixed it thoroughly. You should see no gray streaks on your mixing board. If you don't mix it thoroughly, there will be sticky patches that never cure completely. If you use too much hardener, it will set very fast, in a couple of minutes, before you can even get it put where you want it. ( Do NOT try to apply when it starts to set and gets rubbery. Throw it out and try again.) If you use too little hardener, it will take a long time to set. You can compensate by using a little heat, like an old fashioned gas oven heated with just the pilot light. If you mix the correct amount, it should be hard cured in 20 minutes. I used popsicle sticks to mix and apply the Bondo. You can trim it with a razor blade after it has set, but before it cures hard. After it is hard cured, you can file or sand it. It is messy stuff. Latex gloves are a good idea. If you get some on your gloved fingers, put on new gloves. You don't want to get Bondo fingerprints on everything you touch.

I hope this helps!