Truck won't shift into any gear after neutral switch replacement. (automatic transmission)

My truck wouldn't even start the other day. Traced the problem to a faulty neutral switch. Taking off the old switch was a major pain. Had to bang on it pretty hard. Plugged in the new switch and set it in the "park" position before mounting it back on the vehicle and plugged in the connector. Now the truck starts but won't shift into gear. The shifting shaft on the side of the transmission that operates the neutral switch doesn't seem to work either. When I start the truck it seems to "lurch" a bit like it wants to go but it is in "park". Other funny things are also going on like no key buzzer, no dome lights, the fuel gauge goes crazy when I start the truck before settling down and working right. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

As a guess I would say that you damaged something by beating on it and / or you have damaged wiring going to the switch.

https://www.customtacos.com/tech.ol...toyewd/06toypdf/ewd/2006/tacoma/h/em01d17.pdf

 

Check your grounding VERY carefully. Sounds like a faulty ground/ battery. With all the different symptoms.

 

Thanks for your help. I already cleaned and checked the battery terminals but I will do so again. Do you think a bad ground will cause the transmission not to shift into gear?

 

Yes I do think that. Do you have a meter? @Jimmyh posted up some wiring. Can you check that out?
Not just battery terminals. But where those ground wires go, the wires themselves. Maybe not it. But lots off different problems like that suggest electronic issues. What your battery voltage?

 

I can use a have a voltmeter. Battery voltage was about 12.5 volts. Will check out all ground wires. Don't know where to start on the wiring diagrams.

 

Taking a quick look, looks like page 5 might be a good place to start with that diagram.
Your switch and the combination meter aka (instrument cluster) are both having an issue. And they are both on that page.

 

Thanks for all your help. Checked out grounds. All seem ok. Checked the dome light to see if it had a good ground. It does. It's just not getting power. Dome fuse is good. But the dome fuse is not getting power. Neither is the radio fuse nor the ECU-b fuse in the fuse box. All three are together. Pulled the fuse box and looked underneath. None of these three fuses gets power directly from the battery. They seem to get power somewhere in the dash as a guess. If somebody new exactly where to check next that would be great. Does anybody know if the ECU-B controls whether the truck starts? I'm thinking of just supplying them with power directly from the battery.

 

A bad ground will not cause a trans not to shift out of park. That's a mechanical operation not an electrical one. My guess is you damaged the shift shaft inside the trans by hitting it to remove the old range sensor

 

I have read of an instance where incorrect voltage prevented shift solenoid on trans to malfunction. Voltage drop on ground side. Need schematic for starting circuit.

 

Park, reverse, 1st and 2nd are mechanically controlled 3rd-5th are solenoid.

 

Thanks for the info

 

Say what...?


I learned something new.

 

There's a thing called a short pin that supplies power to those 3 things. The idea is that if the truck is going to sit on the dealers lot for a long time, they remove that to keep the battery from going dead.

http://www.customtacos.com/tech.old...06toyewd/06toypdf/ewd/2006/tacoma/h/em01d.pdf

 

The stop light switch also seem to be an input to the computer. Do you have brake lights? There is also a relay related there. See the first page of the wiring diagram 10 amp stop fuse. Worth checking. I had a Land Rover with those symptoms, bad brake light switch.

 

Right on with the short pin advice!!! Thanks Muddinfun!!! I had taken mine out to check it and it fell under the fuse box. I didn't fish it out because I didn't think it did anything. I have brake lights. Now everything in the cab is working. I also found a blown 15 amp in-line fuse under the dash. All weird electrical problems are now gone. Gotta get the new neutral switch installed and see if that solves the rest of my problems but I do believe that I have damaged the transmission linkage somehow. Anybody know if I just have to take off the bottom pan to get to the linkage that seems damaged?

 

let us know what you find!

 

Winner winner chicken dinner!

 

I finally got all electrical problems solved in the truck only to find that it still won't shift gears. Found out the the linkage pin had broken off of the shift cable at the transmission. Also found that someone tried to glue it back on!!. The only work I had had done recently was a complete frame replacement at Toyota. I accused them of gluing it on. We argued back and forth for over a week and I filed a formal complaint before they finally admitted doing just that!!! Now they are fixing the whole thing free of charge and there are definitely some problems inside the transmission now. Thanks for all of your help.