2008 prius won't stay in gear, goes to neutral when hot

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Barbara lfw, Jun 13, 2015.

  1. Barbara lfw

    Barbara lfw New Member

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    2008 prius won't stay in gear, goes to neutral when hot
     
    #1 Barbara lfw, Jun 13, 2015
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    If the car is overheating, it could be the car stopping itself
     
    #2 JC91006, Jun 13, 2015
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how are you determining 'hot'? you might want to check your 12 volt battery.
     
    #3 bisco, Jun 13, 2015
  4. Barbara lfw

    Barbara lfw New Member

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    It only happens when the car has been sitting in the hot sun for hours. If I hold it in gear & drive to my destination, when I'm ready to leave when the weather is a bit cooler--the problem disappears.
     
    #4 Barbara lfw, Jun 13, 2015
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    never heard that one before. could be in the shifter i suppose, but i would check the 12v first. also the cooling fan. you might want to see if any codes have been logged.
     
    #5 bisco, Jun 13, 2015
  6. alekska

    alekska Active Member

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    It sounds like a defective gear switch.
    Alex
     
    #6 alekska, Jun 13, 2015
    garglo and valde3 like this.
  7. Barbara lfw

    Barbara lfw New Member

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    I don't think the car is overheating It happens on hot days, after the car has been sitting in a parking lot all day. When the outside temperature goes down, the problem disappears. My toyota dealer said his mechanics hadn't heard of my issue, but when I googled it several others experienced the same thing in 2007 & 2008 Priuses.
     
    #7 Barbara lfw, Jun 13, 2015
  8. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    Mine used to do this - the return spring in the shifter was defective and would cause the shifter to stick "left" after pulling down to drive. When choosing a gear, select the desired mode, then follow the shifter back up (or down) and to the right after selecting "D" (or R) to see if this solves your concern. Otherwise, what's happening is the vertical spring is pulling the shifter up from "D" to "N", but the horizontal return spring isn't pulling the lever from "N" (Neutral Gear) to the resting position.

    If this is the problem, a new shifter mechanism is required. Expensive at the dealer, or much cheaper from a wrecking yeard.
     
    #8 HTMLSpinnr, Jun 14, 2015
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  9. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    The OP is unclear, but I think she is describing a malfunctioning gear shifter.
    This is the only repair (ever!) performed on our 2004 Prius. I bought a used replacement part from autobeyours.com for ~ 60 USD and installed it in a few minutes. I have seen the part for sale on Ebay for $25 - $30, but that may be a bit of a gamble.

    I gather that the common problem is that over time heat warps a bit of the plastic inside the shifter. The more adventurous can simply clip the offending bit of plastic.

    Pat Wong's DIY instructable.
     
    #9 SageBrush, Jun 14, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2015
  10. Barbara lfw

    Barbara lfw New Member

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    Thanks for your response . Any idea of replacement cost of shifter?
     
    #10 Barbara lfw, Jun 14, 2015
  11. debby g

    debby g New Member

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    this happened to me this week , after my 2008 prius was sitting in the sun at temps of 111 for 6 hours , I had no idea why the gear shift would switch from drive to neutral by itself. Apparently this is a manufacturer problem ,does anyone know if the dealerships will do anything to fix this problem?
    Debby g
     
    #11 debby g, Jun 5, 2016
  12. andrewclaus

    andrewclaus Active Member

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    Your warranty has certainly expired by now, so don't expect a free fix, if that's what you're asking. It sounds like a rare issue, and I haven't heard of any sort of recall or warranty extension. Of course the dealer will fix it, if you pay them. But as mentioned above, it's not a difficult DIY repair.
     
    #12 andrewclaus, Jun 5, 2016
  13. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    It's not hard to change the shifter, maybe 15 minute job. There's a video from autobeyours.com that shows you how to disassemble to remove the mfd screen, that video is useful for the shifter as well, it's the same place. That took them 2 minutes. I have another shifter for $50 if you want it
     
    #13 JC91006, Jun 5, 2016
  14. COOL_GUY1447

    COOL_GUY1447 New Member

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    Hey just started having this issue too, any luck on a solution?
     
    #14 COOL_GUY1447, Jun 6, 2019
  15. COOL_GUY1447

    COOL_GUY1447 New Member

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    just had this happen to me today, any luck on a solution?
     
    #15 COOL_GUY1447, Jun 6, 2019
  16. Skibob

    Skibob Senior Member

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    The OP hasn’t logged in for almost 4 years. Take the advice of the other posters it’s probably the shifter.
     
    #16 Skibob, Jun 6, 2019
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