Shift lock woes

[pipsyp]

Evening folks........

 

Be interested to hear your thoughts and recommendations (particularly the more seasoned Alphard owners of you).

 

My 2008 AH10 2.4 has always had an issue with the shift lock, in that it's never worked full stop.  Better than being stuck in P admittedly but in my case you can simply pull it in and out of P with the engine running and no foot on the brake.

 

I've had the dash apart today as I wanted to figure out how best to get it apart as I need to install a new DAB antenna following a windscreen change (a bloody pain of a job) and as far as I can tell......

 

The shift button wasn't broken (as is usually the case I lost the sod in the bowels of the dash putting the fascia trim back on lol)

 

The lever that the shift lock operates with moves freely and returns just fine on the spring.

 

Looking within the innards of the shifter....I can see that when the lever is operated that the catch that would lock the lever into P moves up and down as expected.  However in the lock position, it simply doesn't stop the lever being moved out of P.

 

I'm assuming that the park lock is likey normally activated off of the brake pedal and that likely this has failed and that perhaps someone as a cheap fix has broken the top section off of the lock mechanism so that it never locks.  I must confess I can't tell really by looking at it but the white catch definitely does not prevent the lever moving in and out of P.

 

My worry is that I have three kids, two on the younger side and whilst I rarely ever leave them in it, it does go through my mind that they could very easily put the vehicle into gear (or out of P) and that doesn't sit very well with me.

 

My thoughts are that I'm probably going to have to replace the selector unit if I'm ever going to get it working.  Just wondering if anyone else here has suffered the same fate/if it's a common issue and if just buying a used selector off eBay is the best thing to do.

 

Cheers.

 

Paul

[Rojie]

4 hours ago, pipsyp said:

Evening folks........

 

Be interested to hear your thoughts and recommendations (particularly the more seasoned Alphard owners of you).

 

My 2008 AH10 2.4 has always had an issue with the shift lock, in that it's never worked full stop.  Better than being stuck in P admittedly but in my case you can simply pull it in and out of P with the engine running and no foot on the brake.

 

I've had the dash apart today as I wanted to figure out how best to get it apart as I need to install a new DAB antenna following a windscreen change (a bloody pain of a job) and as far as I can tell......

 

The shift button wasn't broken (as is usually the case I lost the sod in the bowels of the dash putting the fascia trim back on lol)

 

The lever that the shift lock operates with moves freely and returns just fine on the spring.

 

Looking within the innards of the shifter....I can see that when the lever is operated that the catch that would lock the lever into P moves up and down as expected.  However in the lock position, it simply doesn't stop the lever being moved out of P.

 

I'm assuming that the park lock is likey normally activated off of the brake pedal and that likely this has failed and that perhaps someone as a cheap fix has broken the top section off of the lock mechanism so that it never locks.  I must confess I can't tell really by looking at it but the white catch definitely does not prevent the lever moving in and out of P.

 

My worry is that I have three kids, two on the younger side and whilst I rarely ever leave them in it, it does go through my mind that they could very easily put the vehicle into gear (or out of P) and that doesn't sit very well with me.

 

My thoughts are that I'm probably going to have to replace the selector unit if I'm ever going to get it working.  Just wondering if anyone else here has suffered the same fate/if it's a common issue and if just buying a used selector off eBay is the best thing to do.

 

Cheers.

 

Paul

 

Do your kids know about the foot brake?

Can they reach it ?

 

Still best to get it fixed.

 

[pipsyp]

9 hours ago, Rojie said:

 

Do your kids know about the foot brake?

Can they reach it ?

 

Still best to get it fixed.

 

Hey Rojie,

 

They don't, but I guess it would only hold so much/long.  Not that they'd ever likely play with the shifter anyway but still I'm not one to take chances 👍

[Geralt]

Sounds like the shift lock solenoid might be stuck. You could just try and replace but I would try to diagnose it first by applying a voltage across it to see if it actuates.

 

On second thoughts, probably not having read the post again.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Geralt

[pipsyp]

On 10/29/2023 at 10:47 AM, Geralt said:

Sounds like the shift lock solenoid might be stuck. You could just try and replace but I would try to diagnose it first by applying a voltage across it to see if it actuates.

 

On second thoughts, probably not having read the post again.

Cheers Geralt, I had a good look as best I could when I was changing out my DAB antenna but I couldnt figure out what the issue was.  Figure it might need the shifter to be removed from the vehicle to really see what's happening but I didn't fancy it.  As it's not locked into gear, I'm thinking that it perhaps failed back in Japan and someone took the shift lock off the vehicle, save replacing it for whatever reason.  That or it's failed open rather than closed (luckily!).

 

The ignition interlock works just fine as it won't start if not in P, and you can't remove the key so at least that side of it is fine.

 

It has a knocking upper steering column (I suspect the bushings which I already have a set of), so it will be going into the garage to be looked at before too long.

Edited November 4, 2023 by pipsyp