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Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 1:35 pm
by chrisblues12
2004 automatic transmission
Started the car up today and shifted down to reverse but it did not engage.
Freely moves to every gear with the brake pressed but will not engage in any gear.
I am not mechanically inclined.
Any tips or obvious things I can check?
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 2:13 pm
by joatmon
When you say it moves freely, do you still feel the stops at each setting, or does it flop back and forth like its not connected to anything?
The first thing I'd check would be the transmission fluid level. See page 5-24 of the 2004 owners manual (if you don't have one, you can download a PDF version from
viewtopic.php?t=755 )
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 2:33 pm
by chrisblues12
joatmon wrote: ↑Sun Jul 30, 2023 2:13 pm
When you say it moves freely, do you still feel the stops at each setting, or does it flop back and forth like its not connected to anything?
The first thing I'd check would be the transmission fluid level. See page 5-24 of the 2004 owners manual (if you don't have one, you can download a PDF version from
viewtopic.php?t=755 )
It moves freely without any resistance but I can feel the stops at each setting still.
Checked the trans fluid level and it is where it should be.
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 3:47 pm
by Phoneman
Shifter cable may have broken. Have someone move the shift lever in the car while you look under the hood to see if the lever on the transmission is moving properly. The transmission shift lever is located just below the battery. It is very easy to spot without having to move anything.
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 3:28 am
by andrewclaus
Here's what the cable looks like, at least for my 2007:
https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/toy ... 01050.html. Hope that's it.
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 12:23 pm
by chrisblues12
Phoneman wrote: ↑Sun Jul 30, 2023 3:47 pm
Shifter cable may have broken. Have someone move the shift lever in the car while you look under the hood to see if the lever on the transmission is moving properly. The transmission shift lever is located just below the battery. It is very easy to spot without having to move anything.
Thanks for the response.
The transmission shift lever did not move.
Does this mean the cable is broken?
Next steps?
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 7:51 am
by chrisblues12
Can you even buy this part anymore?
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 1:04 pm
by joatmon
chrisblues12 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 12:23 pm
The transmission shift lever did not move.
That is good news, as it points firmly to a problem with the shift cable. Much much better than some internal transmission failure
Looks like you can buy the cable from a number of sources
If you see the cable firmly attached at the transmission, might be worth looking at where it attaches to the shifter inside, to see if it somehow just got disconnected To do that you'd need to take off the plastic trim under the shifter. There is a write up on how to do that at
viewtopic.php?t=4706 (which used to be better before ragingfish's pictures were lost)
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2023 12:46 pm
by chrisblues12
joatmon wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 1:04 pm
chrisblues12 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 12:23 pm
The transmission shift lever did not move.
That is good news, as it points firmly to a problem with the shift cable. Much much better than some internal transmission failure
Looks like you can buy the cable from a number of sources
If you see the cable firmly attached at the transmission, might be worth looking at where it attaches to the shifter inside, to see if it somehow just got disconnected To do that you'd need to take off the plastic trim under the shifter. There is a write up on how to do that at
viewtopic.php?t=4706 (which used to be better before ragingfish's pictures were lost)
Check this out. I took off all the trim.
The cable was disconnected and appears a black plastic piece shattered that was holding it in place.
Hopefully I can just buy that piece.
[img]
https://ibb.co/vZc2m3w
https://ibb.co/GMrh2sD
https://ibb.co/Mc1mpYJ [img]
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2023 2:04 pm
by joatmon
sweet
This youtube is for a corolla, but shows putting a shifter cable bushing into a corolla, should be very similar to your car
https://youtu.be/Duoze5T9zo4?t=133 (have to skip ad)
don't know which shifter cable bushing you need to get but you can buy that by itself
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2023 2:30 pm
by chrisblues12
Thanks everyone for your help.
What a great site, full of helpful members.
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2023 3:34 pm
by andrewclaus
This page shows the parts breakdown for a 2007 Matrix:
http://www.japan-parts.eu/toyota/us/200 ... retainer/2 Pontiac may have different trim. It doesn't show any fasteners available. Is salvage an option where you live?
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2023 6:02 am
by chrisblues12
Re: Gear shift freely moves, will not engage
Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2023 10:34 am
by joatmon
They say it'll fit. Looks like you can get it from
Amazon for a few bucks more but if you have prime you'd get it faster than from ebay
I spent a lot of time trying to find a toyota part number for the thing, and failed. I expect if you went to a toyota dealership's parts department they could find it, but unfortunately they often need a VIN to look stuff up. In that case, sometimes I'll hit autotrader.com to look for a compatible Matrix (in your case a FWD 2004 auto tranny) and use the VIN from there