Removing the Auto-Tranny labels

[nismo]

hey everyone,Yeah, I noticed some of you were wondering how to take the label for P,R,N,D, and so forth out. Well, I accidently found out how to do it. I was just trying to wipe off some gunk off of my labels and my finger pushed the labels, down, so, I was like, great, better fix this. So, this is how it is done: (note: I did it again so I could take pictures of the process )1. Rest your finger on the "P" first and put gentle force from the bottom of the slide upwards, if the labels fall in, don't worry, unless they totally go in.2. Then take a pick tool to pull the bottom piece up. When you hear the piece snap up, this is what it should be like:(I apologize for any blurry pictures)3. Then pull the piece back towards the back of the car and the piece that you just pulled up should come above the surface. Once you have noticed that, just push the top park in a little bit and pull the part closest to the "L" and it should come out in your hand, like so:4. Then, to place the piece back in, you will notice a piece next to the amber light, that is where your top piece should be above:5. Then just slide it in the space:6. Then when the piece is in between the Park and Reverse position, you will notice that the piece that you pulled up before now has to be pushed back in. Now, to do this, just use the same tool you did pull this piece up.:7. Then just push the piece up to the Park position and you're all done. It should look just like it did before doing this:Now, some of you were wondering what this will do for us. Some of us were wondering how to change the color of the Park, Reverse, and the other labels. Well, this is the only other way. Any other questions, feel free to PM me Inder

[ColonelPanic]

Right on man... I have also "accidentally" discovered this on several occasions. Looks like you had a much easier time than I trying to get the thing back into place! I'll keep this in mind for the next time I end up knocking mine out.

[nismo]

You should've saw when it first happened. I was like oh $hit. (removed) it! I was feelin kinda stupid. Inder

[hambox]

Really dredging this one up, but thanks for the how to and pics!

[WaveAction]

you know what i'd do if i had an auto..do the same thing i did with my sunfire auto...in this case i would take out the whole plastic piece thats with the shifter(the grey part) and put a shifter boot instead to make it look like auto...no pic of it from my old car but it looked good and amazing how many people thought it was a manual..trying to find the clutch

[hambox]

I thought I was going to have to do just that, I had a real battle getting that plastic piece back in. There are slots on each side that it must fit in, and I ended up getting two slight cracks in it.

[dallairl]

does this proceedure get you to the light? Mine seems to have burnt out.

[Whelan]

I am in the process to put a red LED in there for the stupid plain bulb. For some reason my dash and all are red/white but Toyota likes to play games and make the shifter on ALL of there cars a greenish white coloring. Blech! -10 for not matching colors.

[thebachdog]

I actually own a 2007 Toyota Matrix XR, 5-speed Automatic Transmission, and my car looks just like the pictures in this nismo's post. I am so thankful to nismo as my drive indicator light burned out and this is the simplest way to get to it. dallairl asked if you can get to the light, and although it has been nearly 2 years since dallairl's post, I figured I'd chime in so maybe someone else will benefit.

I don't know if this will be the case with Vibes, but stinking Toyota didn't even show the bulb as a separate item to buy. At least for my model, you had to buy the wire going to it in order to get the bulb, which is ridiculous as the bulb is designed to be replaced. The wire is called a "wire sub-assy, indicator lamp" and found in Toyota part's sites under Shift Lever and Retainer under the Power Train/Chassis section. For me, the wire was part number 35906-13030. By making you get the entire wire and expecting you to replace it, you'd have to take apart the console instead of simply sliding off the piece that has the auto-tranny labels. It turns out that the wire takes a tiny 14V, 1.4W bulb, Toyota part number 90981-11036, but I think you can find them other places. The area is cramped, so either small hands or some needle nose pliers are needed to get the bulb and replace it. I used needle nose pliers to remove the bulb and set the new one into place, then with one finger I was able to push the bulb in place. If you use needle nose pliers, don't squeeze too hard or you will break the bulb, especially when putting in the new one of course. The bulb looks like this - http://img.alibaba.com/img/pb/992/218/2 ... 3_3084.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Good luck and sorry I didn't take any pics, but it is simply a pull-out/push-in type bulb.

[djkeev]

The only trouble I see with your technique are the scratches on the lower part of the label that are the result of using the metal pick. (Look at the last photo in the tutorial.)

One should use a wooden cutical pick or modified popsicle stick or something similar that will not damage the plastic.

Dave