A140E 4cyl auto shifter feels stiff (by hand) between 1 2 L

[fenixus]

OK. so here it goes (all works by the way hehe). Since some time I can observe the automatic tranny shifter becoming stiffer when shifting between gears, however it can be felt mostly between "lower" 1, 2 & L gears - and I mean when manually moving the shifter (worst on cold tranny).

I started feeling it even more since car is barely driven (no longer daily) since a few months. It still feels OK when shifting manually between P, R & D though, however when I compare to my 02 v6 (A541E tranny) the v6 shifter feels much lighter than on 4cyl.

What can be causing this? Am I looking at some tranmission failure, or something about some bushings around shifter down there or something like that (don't know much about guts below shifter).

To make it clear, car shifts gears perfectly fine on its own. Fluid was drained numerous times over last year and in summer the pan was dropped cleaned and strainer replaced (OEM now, former was aftermarket). After that ATF was flushed with a few qts of Castrol IMV fluid (on top of all draining and refilling before).

Also this tranny was power flushed at dealer like 10k miles ago and that was the first ATF change since I own the car since it was 35k miles (now 78k). I assume prev owner changed the strainer and pan gasket (both were non-OEM).

any ideas what is going on here? or is it just my imagination since I started comparing it to V6 setup?

[Chris Crash]

Could be the gear selector/shift cable on the front of the trans? Just throwing ideas out here....I doubt it's internal if it shifts normally while driving.

[fenixus]

hmmm, i don't even know where it sits to be honest... only cable going to tranny I know of is the one from TB linkage (kick down as they call it), but that's rather related to gas pedal ... do you have a picture maybe?

[Chris Crash]

All I have in the manual is a super exploded view...

It's the moving cable on the front of the transmission. Check to see if it's binding. Turn shift lock off and move it manually. I think it's connected to the park neutral safety switch actually.

I suck at these auto transmissions, but ask me a question about the S51

[Solid_Koolaid]

http://www.**********s.com/camry/ax1.pdf

[fenixus]

thanks for insights.

i took a look in manuals and it seems that shifter (manual shift lever) is moving on some pivot bolt sitting in the park/neutral switch ... hmmm

and that cable we were talking about IS actually the throttle (kick down) cable going down from the throttle linkage to transmission (the only one I know of around there)...

so i don't know still what up with that haha
why would the shift lever move hard/stiff on lower gears? something getting worn out with that park/neutral switch thing?

[Solid_Koolaid]

It costs nothing to check. The P/N switch is easy to remove. Clean and lube, see what it does.

Could be internal in some way though.

[fenixus]

ok, thanks. I think I see what's coming

... but I'm lazy now and will leave it like it is until Spring. after some heavy duty driving it starts working better and lighter anyways, so nothing critical (yet).

[JohnGD]

My guess is the problem may be at the shifter itself (and shift lock control switch), the shifter cable, the NSS, or the manual shift valve in the valve body.

You can try disconnecting the cable at the NSS and see if the shifting resistance is still there. At least you can isolate it to either side of the NSS. And maybe remove and check NSS too. (Just make sure it's installed and checked according to instructions so you don't slip out of a gear or something like that.)

If it's inside the transmission then my guess is the manual shift valve may be partly sticking.

This is not the same cable that controls ATF line pressure.

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by JohnGD

My guess is the problem may be at the shifter itself (and shift lock control switch), the shifter cable, the NSS, or the manual shift valve in the valve body.

You can try disconnecting the cable at the NSS and see if the shifting resistance is still there. At least you can isolate it to either side of the NSS. And maybe remove and check NSS too. (Just make sure it's installed and checked according to instructions so you don't slip out of a gear or something like that.)

If it's inside the transmission then my guess is the manual shift valve may be partly sticking.

This is not the same cable that controls ATF line pressure.

ok thanks. these checks will have to wait until Spring though ... I don't like working under car in cold, brrrr ... and nothing points to any warm up anytime soon, rather the opposite slowly coming stronger with every day heh.

always learning something new hehe, so there is another cable too I've never seen it yet or at least haven't realized it was there hehe.

those steps sound like a plan (NSS cleaning/testing, checking shift level operation with no cable attached) ... i just hope it's nothing internal to trannsmission itself...

[kasperjames]

can you send me any manual or information on troble shooting the pressure gear shift cable?
i need a step by step removal process with photos. thanks!

[fenixus]

forgot about this thread, reposting to this one instead of setting new one up.

in past the automatic shift lever on wife's car was not too hard to shift between auto gear positions (in parking lot that is), but since some time it became stiffer and harder to move.

I know there is a white plastic gear below the lever, but as far as I know it's all right (checked visually once or twice with console off while doing other stuff).

now, I know there is a cable connected to it and if I'm not mistaken it goes to Park Neutral Switch (Neutral Safety Switch related stuff?) on the other end, that would be this:


Is this the thing you guys mentioned to be in front of trans? I hope I understood right.

now, it happened once in past (that would be when lever started feeling stiffer to move) that when I was unplugging the oil cooler lines on trans and made a mistake and let the ATF flow right onto the trans body from a disconnected line (red circle marks the dirty area).

can it be that old grease and road dirt is blocking the movement of this element on this side of shift cable (green circle)?

correct me if wrong, trying to figure out how to fix it or what is going on before we run into more serious trouble.

just clean it with engine degreaser and pressure-wash it down would help?

I need to wash the engine off (old oil spill from some crap filter leaking all around in long past) anyways, so can do that at same time (in plans for close future), just not sure if it would help or I'm looking at something else (e.g. failing/seizing NSS pivot bolt or so).

thanks for opinions.

[fenixus]

de-greased and pressure washed the engine bay today, including the dirty front of trans and circled areas. no change on gear selector feeling. it must be something else ...

good thing is that I can actually see the gray NSS (Park Neutral Switch) connector now
before it was all dirty black grimy, so I haven't even noticed it was there

seems like if I get bored I will remove the switch and clean it.

[pmesfun]

Has an liquid been spilled down into the shifter? I spilled a soda, and the shift lock stopped working because it got all sticky.

[JohnGD]

Have you tried disconnecting the NSS end of the shifter cable? If the NSS is disconnected and the shifter is still hard to shift, then the problem may be with the cable or the shifter.

In addition, disconnect the cable at the shifter end. If the shifter becomes smooth then definitely the cable.