Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior urgent, please help! i'm stuck!

well this morning when i got into my car for work i realized that my shifter won't shift. i pressed down the button to release my shifter and shift into reverse, but the button won't compress. i dunno wut the hell is going on. i can't even pop it in neutral so i can get it towed. god my car only has 27000 miles on it and i never rag on my baby but still i'm starting to get problems. does ne one else here had this problem or could help me out with this. i need to fix this problem b4 tomorrow as i have a review session for an exam to go to and not to mention work. c'mmon plz, help me out once again ecelica members. no CEL or transmission light is on. so i don't understand wut's wrong. last night when i came home it was fine and i parked it and no problems, and i parked it on a levelled surface if that helps. i dunno what's wrong. could some one help plz. thnx

slik

never heard of some one having this problem, I'm stumped

Well first of all make sure that the brake is pushed in the whole way and nothing is blockiong that. Also try taking apart the console and seeing if anything is blocking the "shifter". If not I would try calling a toyota dealership or a shop and seeing if they know how to help?!

i'm stumped too. like in the morning, i was like wut the fug? i was confused and still am. maybe someone who knows a lot about transmissions and stuff might be able to help me. i did a search and found nothing. so plz help!

slik

sounds like you have an auto gts, right?

sometimes in an auto the shift release button's edges get caught in the innards of the 'shift knob'. wiggle it around some and then press REALLY hard, it shoujld do the trick

it's not going to do you any good to take apart your shift housing because theres nothing in there that could jam it. just sometimes the inside edges get caught on the walls of the 'shift knob' (or whatever you call it in an auto)--it might have decompressed too far for some reason--so you just have to press it very hard.

hey speed4theneed thnx for the advice, but this is wut i just did! i just realized that there's a quick release button right next to the shifter and i pressed that down and got my car out of park. then i tried pressing the normal chrome release button in all settings (P, N, R, etc) and it works fine, but as soon as you put it back in park that button won't go down and you can't shift out! so basically to get out of park you have to press down the emergency release button and then i'm ok. but still i need to figure this out and i really don't want to take it to the dealership as every time i go i get new scratches in my interior, as my interior is all painted red, and they treat it like shit. i tried pressing the shifter button down with a lot of force but it won't budge and i'm afraid that i'll break it. even if i take the shifter assembly apart i wouldn't know what exactly i'm looking for, so now do you have ne new suggestions for me. thx

slik

i thought you only had to press the emergency release button to shift out of park only when your car is not turned on?? so are you turning your car on?

other than that i really don't know..that sounds odd but i do not have any experience with auto gts. but at least you know its not your shift release button being caught on the innards or something else jamming the release becuase as you said it works fine in anything but park.

yes i'm using that button to get out of park when my car is turned on!

slik

one more dumb question: your foot is firmly on the brake also, right?

so does n e body else know why this might be happening!

slik

as far as it can go! lol!

slik

ugh...

i guess take it to the dealership...i dunno what's up with that though. how long have you had your car?

I had that problem with my 91 celica, so maybe it is still around in the new celicas. If you blow the fuse for the third brake light, you can not shift into gear. I guess the solenoid that only lets you put it into gear when the brake is on ran off the third brake light. No third brake light, and the shifter button wont compress.
Like I said, thats for 5th gens, but hope it can help.

Check your other fuses too, couldent hurt. I'm pretty sure its electrical problem.

doubletap, damn you hit it dead on. my brake lights don't turn on. i bet when i put on my trd wing did a bad connection and that's y my fuse blew out. ne ways thnx a lot and i'm going to go get new fuses and check it out. once again thnx, and hopefully that will fix the problem.

slik

hope it works, let us know if this was the problem after all so we may be able to help someone else out in the future

That's pretty cool, save you a trip to the dealer if it solved the probably. IF you needed to take to the dealer, just clean your interior first and take some picture. When you go pick up your car and you notice some there that wasn't there b4, you have the photo to back it up IMO. Wuldn't hurt to be too careful, beside the car is like your baby and all rite?? yeah!

well guys my car is fixed. the fuse was blown and now it is perfectly working. my brake lights were not lighting and up and i checked the fuse and it was blown and i just replaced it. it all worked out, i think it was fuse number 30 in the fuse box that's inside on the passenger side. i replaced it with a spare 10A fuse that was provided by toyota in the engine bay fuse box. it's now perfect. yes, thnx to every one and especially to doubletapp. hope this will help people in the future if they have this problem. thnx guys!

slik

It's always nice finding out the problem is a 25 cent fuse, and not a 2500 dollar transmission. It had me scared for a shile when it happened to me.

werd!

glad it worked out

yea, glad you got the car working right agian!

yep, it's a relief! and it's great to know that you can always depend on the fellow members to help you out, promptly and accurately.

slik

haha or in this case, member (singular)--doubletap had the answer