spdrcr771

iTrader: (21)

If you have a 98-00 SC400 & your 1st & 2nd gear light on your dash doesnt work, it will not hold 1st gear. This is the problem. Lexus put a little micro switch inside the shifter assembly, that controls the transmission. If the light on the dash doesnt come on when it's in 1st gear the transmission will not hold first gear, until you shift it manually. Now on the 2nd gear light, it doesnt matter if the light is on, if it's in 2nd gear position it will hold. I guess that a defalt setting lol. If you want to fix the problem, here is how you do it.

1st: Take the cover off the shifter assembly.



2nd: Then you take off the shift pattern bezel. There are little tabs on the side, you just use a small screwdriver to remove.

3rd: Then take off the clear lexan cover w/the plastic shifter strip.



4th: Once thats off you can see the sensor's. The top one is the parking sensor, the middle one is 3rd & 4th gear & then the bottom one, which is the micro switch, which controls 1st & 2nd gear. This one is the one you want to replace.



5Th: Remove the little philips head screw. Then work the wire out. The end of the wire plug is attached to a piece, which is kinda hard to get to. Usa a screwdriver to pop the plug off the mounting spot, so you can feed the wire up to the top, to unplug the sensor.

6th: Once you have the switch out, you will have to remove the little light from the plug, to install it in the new plug.



7th: You have to pull up on this little part of the plug before you can use a tiny screwdriver to pry down on the little tabs inside the plug to remove the pins/wires, to install in the new plug.



Here is the part # 84722-24070



This will do it. Thanks to Cino21 for figuring this out. He found it. I found the part # & helped him install it. Now im waiting for my switch to get here from Japan.

spdrcr771

iTrader: (21)

Wow I cant believe that no one else has posted about having this problem.

scENFORCER

Ya I've never had a problem like this..
Its those damn '98's!

horent135

iTrader: (10)

i dont usually put in 1st or 2nd gear, it always either on D or 4th

2jzz73

My car is its stick and the thing of it at first when when i was driving around it was throwing rich fuel out it was all black smoke and when i get putting shell gas it worked better but days passed by i open the hood and i saw smoke coming out and i didnt so now whole or nothing and then when i changed the clutch i saw a big crack going straight down and it makes louyd noise and the engine light comes on so now i just got to change it and the head gaskets and ma exhaust manifold has a crack to how cheap can i get all that? its a frastrution having to see my car like this

Klaus

iTrader: (1)

Dude please for the love of god learn how to form a paragraph with logical sentences. This is (a) the wrong thread to post this and (b) the other thread you made on this was locked because nobody could understand what you were saying. If you need help with your lexus, take some extra time and write a decent paragraph with no garbage properly detailing your problem in the performance and maintenance section.

cino21

i guess we are the only ones who shift our 400's like it's a true triptronic auto... lol

i can't help it though, i like controlling the gears until i save enough for the getrag swap.. 365 days and counting lol.. but either way, i'm sure the sensor went out from normal wear and tear and other people might not notice b/c they never manually use it that low.

bboyjohn04

I know this thread is super old but mine is having the same issue not being able to select 1st gear. I'm doing this repair next, thanks for this post!!!