I have a 99 Camry LE (4cyl -AT) with around 142K on it. In the last couple of months, I have noticed that there is no longer a "click" in shifting from N to D on the shift indicator. It's not loose, the shifter stays in gear when I put it there. However, sometimes I don't get it into Drive because I don't pull it far enough. There don't seem to be any drivability issues, other than accidentally not putting it into gear occasionally. The other shifting positions seem to work fine, and all require me to press the button on the shifter to shift between. If I shift all the way down to 1, then move back to P a couple of times, it improves a little - but only for a couple of shifts. My questions is, how serious of a problem is this? I don't want to take it to the dealer and get stuck with a undriveable car because they disassembled the tranny and found it needs rebuilt. On the flip side, if this is something they can easily fix, I'd rather take care of it so I can get a couple more years out of this car without major repair. Is there anything I can do to attempt to remedy it?

Oh, and my windshield is cracked...can I just put duct tape on it?

Thanks in advance,
Ryan

 

It could just be the shift console and not the transmission. The trans has its own shift detent system.

 

Remove the shift cable for the trans shift lever then run the gear selector through it paces.

The manually move the trans shift lever to determine if the detent work in ever gear.

 

The detent system is located under the trans, accessIble by removing the trans fluid pan. The trans does not need to come out to repair this if it is the problem.