No Brakes - Car Stuck in Park

[tmeeks]

Have a 95 Camry LE, 5S-FE engine. Have no brake lights and gear shift stuck in park.

1) Replaced STOP fuse front left as it had blown.
2) Replaced STOP LIGHT SWITCH. Lost my religion on that one.

Still no brake lights and gear stuck in Park.

Next I'm reading to replace the Lamp Failure Switch. Found it on left side of trunk. Wires comign in look fine and the switch looks fine. No burned marks.

Should I go to Pull-a-Part and get one to see if that fixes?

Other ideas?

thanks,
Tim

[dc_98_cam]

The Wiring Diagram shows that the LFS could be the problem.
As you look at the LFS and the connector harness going into it, there should be a green wire with a white stripe, and also a green wire with a red stripe.
The G/W wire is from the power source, i.e the brake switch. The G/R wire is to the brake lights.
Just as a test, you could scrape a little insulation from each wire and very briefly ... just a brief touch ... connect a jumper between the two wires ... depressing the brake pedal at the same time. If you have a couple of sharp voltage probes, those would work just as well to get through the insulation. Don't maintain the jumpered connection for too long, since there is an internal current limiting resistor within the LFS that is being bypassed by the jumper.

So, if the LFS/jumper/brake pedal test shows that the brake lights are in fact lighting, then a LFS obtained from a salvage yard or other parts source would be a good bet ... as far as getting your brake lights working.

If you have unsatisfactory results .... check back later.

Have you tried turning your steering wheel to unlock the gear selector?
Your owners manual may have some additional information on that feature.
That may be a mechanical linkage, rather than anything electrical.

[RningOnFumes]

The gear selector might be stuck because it needs a signal from the brake pedal. To by-pass it get a standard flat head screw driver and pry the little tab at the base of the gear selector. Under neath that tab, you should be able to stick the screw driver in to release the lock on the gear selector. It's been a while so I'm not sure what to do inside the tab, just take a peek and see what you need to do.

Once the gear selector is free, drive like normal but with hand signals until you solve the issue.

Along with dc_98's suggestions, maybe take out that brake switch and test if it is just bad eve if it's new.

As for fuses, don't forget you have another set of fuses under the hood.

[dc_98_cam]

^ +1

[tmeeks]

Thanks for the feedback. I failed to mention that I am able to put the car in gear using the Shift Lock Override button which is to the left on the gear shift under a cover. I just didn't want my daughter driving the car since there are no brake lights for safety and ticket issues.

I'll try to find another LSF and see if that works.

thanks.

[iminky]

My Son's 96 camry wagon did this same thing last week. Being a skilled electrical troubleshooter I had him come down and I tried to show him how to methodically narrow down the cause.

It turned out all I could find was some bad stop light sockets. (2 )

put new bulbs in and got one working but he other would only work if the bulb was held a certain way. So we left that one out till a replacement socket can be found. On this wagon he still has 4 stop lights working now instead of five, and the stop fuse is not blowing anymore.

Pull all the bulbs first then replace the stop fuse if blown and step on the brake , does it come out of park..... if yes fuse is still good..... start looking at sockets and bulbs clean the iinsides of the sockets with a wire brush sandpaper or whatever works for you. Get the contact points also in the sockets. buy new bulbs ( His wagon takes 1157 bulbs )

[tmeeks]

iminky,

thanks for that help. I'm about to go try. I checked the 2 main brake bulbs a couple of days ago. They looked fine, but I didn't try the trouble shooting with the fuse and cleaning the contacts. May buy new bulbs and try.

thanks,

tim

[iminky]

Glad to help

I left out that I was trying to show him how to track this down with electrical schematics and how to find all the connections throughout the body using the factory manual and we did all that but it was a bit lost since I did not find anything in that process and only found the bad bulb sockets.

Oh well at least he saw how it was done even if it was not the solution. and it is now working.

He too replaced the stop light switch and it did not fix it. GRRRRR it s not hard to test to see it if it is bad with an ohm meter. He returned it and got his $$$$ back at Advanced auto parts

One of the sockets had a contact pin that looked like it got hot or something because the pin was sunk in / recessed and maybe the plastic around got hot. This is the one we left the bulb out of.

Next trip to the salvage yard we will get a couple sockets and butt splice the wires together.

Make sure you pull all the bulbs, we missed two at first since I did not know it had 2 in the hatch and two on the body corners, also the high mount in the rear window.

Tom

[dc_98_cam]

I haven't tried it, but somebody else stated that you could use the following link to download factory service manual data for your vehicle. I believe there is a fee involved ... but would probably be worth it.

https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfo....toyota.com%2F

[iminky]

try this
t u r b o n i n j a s
.com/camry

remove spaces in turbo ninjas

[tmeeks]

Dear iminky and dc_98_cam,

It (appears) to be fixed.
The fuse had re-blown since I started trying to fix, so I put in a new fuse.

I took out the 2 brake bulbs in the tail lights and tried to put the gear stick in Park. It worked!

Next I cleaned the contacts in each brake light socket. I tried sandpaper, but ended up getting a small flat-tip screwdriver and scrapping the socket contact area clean.

I then put in one new bulb and it worked. I tried the same the same bulb in the other socket and it worked also. Put new bulbs in and they both worked.

Then I tried the old bulbs. Guess what... they worked too. So in hindsight, it appears the only issue was that each socket needed the contact area scraped.

That tells me that I too also replaced the stop light switch unnecessarily. Trying to decide if I want to put the old one back in or just leave it. Not sure if it's worth the $25.

Also, I ended up leaving the 2 new bulbs in which were $5 total.

So for $30 and about 6 hours worth of troubleshooting, it's fixed. The only thing I noticed is that the brake lights are occasionally staying on. So I may need to adjust the stop light switch so the brake pedal isn't keeping it on.

thanks,
again.

Tim

[dc_98_cam]

Thanks for the update ....
After 15 years or so, the metal contacts in the bulb sockets must develop a layer of non-conductive varnish or oxidation.
I always keep a spray can of electrical contact cleaner handy, and use it generously to wash off anything that might be affected by grease, oil, or other contamination.
I also use a small square of 400 grit emery paper to get down to the bright shiny metal.

... Maybe you won't have the same problem again for another 15 years.

[iminky]

Coool !!

Always try the easy stuff first.

Tom

I'm aToyota Employee at the Georgetown plant in Maintenance consider it a Thank you ! ! !

BUY Toyota's.............. Buy Toyota's............... Buy Toyota's........... LOL