Hello,

I have a 97 Camry XLE that won't go into park. Starts fine in neutral and all works well it just rolls in park?? Any ideas?

 

The gear selector goes into park and the dash indicator show such?

Did the parking pawl break off?

 

correct, dash indicator shows that it's in park. Not sure what you mean by "parking pawl" though?

Much appreciate your input, thanks

 

The parking pawl is a metal arm. When the trans is in park, it engages a gear in the trans to prevent the trans output shaft from rotating. If the output shaft is locked the front wheels will not rotate. It happens if the gear selector is moved to park when the car is still moving, the metal arm can be sheared off. The result is the shift lever is in park and the park dash light on, but the car will move when in park.

You need to determine if the trans gear selector is in park.

The trans has a rod sticking out of its housing to which an arm is attached. A push/pull cable attaches to the arm and routes to the gear selector in car. When the selector is moved, the cable moves the arm to rotate the shaft, to select the gear.

Behind the arm is a rotating electrical switch. As the rod rotates, the switch does also. This switch is what turns on the gear indicator lights.

Given the above it appears the shift/lever is in park, you need to confirm this.

Make sure for some strange reason the gear selector and shift lever are not in sync. Does the trans shift to 1st when this gear is selected, the 2nd, neutral, R, etc. And the dash light indicate the gear you have selected?

Find the shift lever on the trans housing. You should be able to see it from standing outside the engine compartment. It has a large push/pull cable running to it. Have someone move the shift lever while you look. The make sure the lever is moving in sync with the gear selector. And moves all the way in one direction when park is selected.

If the lever is in park, but the car still moves, the pawl has been damaged.

The pawl can be replaced by dropping the trans pan which can be done with trans still in car.

 

thanks for the explanation. I'll have someone give me a hand while I check that the cable is moving. However, I did notice that the dashboard display is not in sink with the shifter........park doesn't light up at all (on the dashboard) when in park.

 

How about reverse and neutral, does dash display indicate both correctly?

 

R,N,2,L all light up except for P and D although Drive works but Park doesn't?

 

Determine if the shift lever on the trans is in the Park position when the gear selector in car is in Park.

You can do this a couple of ways. With parking brake on, start engine and put the trans in Reverse, as noted by the car wanting to move backwards. Then turn engine off! Have someone then move the shifter to Park while you observe if shifter arm also moves.

You can then also disconnect the push/pull cable from shift lever on trans and physically determine if the shift lever has fully moved into Park. The shift arm can only move so far in either direction. At one end of travel is Park and the other is Low.

The trans has a ball/detent system which will stop and hold the shift arm in each gear until movement of the gear selector (and cable) forces the lever to another position.

If the lever is in Park and the car still rolls, the parking pawl is damaged.

As to the lights, don't know. Each gear light has its own bulb which can burn out. Or the rotary switch could have problems with bad electrical contact, wiring, etc. If you think it is the switch, some owners have sprayed electrical contact cleaner inside with success or replace it.

 

Thanks Joey!

I followed you suggestions and found the issue. Broken cable housing/tube....it basically collapsed where it connects to a mount. If you move it and put it back in place the car goes into park, although it slips after a couple of shifts. Great news that it's not the transmission.

 

Maybe you can repair the cable.

Dealer cable is expensive, aftermarket cables are harder to find. Ebay is listing them at $100+. Try auto salvage yards.

Needing to replace the cable is common enough because the cable end that attaches to the lever breaks off, the result can't shift gears.