[Racefiend]

I know quite a few people have suffered from the problem where the shifter will not center when in neutral. It will return from the 5-6 gate to center, but it slops around between the 1-2 gate and center. The problem usually goes away after the trranny warms up.

You can see a technical drawing as well as correspondence from Toyota which discusses the possible cause and fix (IE buy a new bellhousing for $600):

http://www.supraforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=482205&highlight=sloppy+shifter

Well, I'm here to tell you that the prognosis is not so grim. Here's how I fixed it.

First of all, here's what we're looking at:

The shift rod goes into that hole and rotates this contraption as you move from center to 1-2 or 5-6. As you move to the 5-6 gate, it rotates clockwise and pushes against that spring, which returns it to center. As you move to 1-2, it rotates counter-clockwise and depresses that plunger, which is spring loaded and returns the shifter to center. The problem is that the ID of the bushing for the plunger decreases for some reason and binds the plunger. As the tranny heats up, the aluminum expands and the bushing expands outwards, freeing the plunger.

As you can see in the picture, the hole for the plunger goes all the way through the bellhousing. The outside of the hole has a seal and a snap ring, which holds the plunger assembly inside the transmission. Here's what's inside the hole:

The Toyota letter explains you need to remove the snap ring, then destroy the seal by making a hole in it and prying it out. You don't need to do that. You can use a C clamp that is deep enough to fit into the bellhousing and drive the piston back into the seal and push the seal out. Use a socket or something smaller than the piston as a spacer for the clamp. Make sure you put a rag or something on the outside of the hole, as the spring and seal will come flying out once the seal clears the hole. Then finish driving the piston out.

No you can see the inside of the hole:

The bushing is a metal bushing with a grey coating on it, similar to what you might find on a crank/rod bearing. I found that it had a textured finish to it, similar to a hammered paint finish, but finer. The high spots on the texture were binding with the piston. I don't know if it originally had a smooth finish, and something caused it to "bubble" up. Without seeing a new one I don't know. The picture shows it after I fixed it, but you can still see a little of the texture. The coating is relatively soft, so all you need to do is sand it down to regain your clearance for the piston. Here's what I used:

I used a wooden dowel with 800 grit sandpaper. You can use a drill bit or anything round. Wrap some 800 grit sandpaper and smooth it out. Like I said, it's relatively soft, so it doesn't take much sanding. Get all the way around and check your progress as you go. I finished it off with 1500 grit.

Once you finish, clean out the hole, then coat everything with V160 oil and reassemble. Works like a champ. Don't know how long it will last, but it should last quite a while. It's a pretty easy fix.

 

[916supra]

my shifter does that too, but it goes away after few mins. of driving and warm up. it doesnt bug me to much , but i am glad to see a fix to the problem is it every gets worse.

 

[Racefiend]

Yeah, its not really something thats worth doing on it's own. But if you ever find yourself pulling the tranmsission to replace the clutch or something, it doesn't take much extra to fix.

 

[stockred03]

Ah, very handy. Thanks for the post.

 

[LO 21]

great write-up. next time i need to pull the tranny i'll make sure to take a look at this!