Clunking noise Auto Trans P to R

[knoxy]

G'day guys, was hoping someone could shed some light on an issue my car's having

it's an 09 dual cab diesel, 4spd Automatic.

The driveways on a slight incline, nothing too substantial, but when i park there, after it's sat for an hour or two and I go to drive away, changing from P (park) to R (reverse) is stiff, very stiff- forcing the gear into place produces a large clunking noise, and then all is well with the world.

My thoughts so far are that maybe it's low on fluid, the angle drives it all to one side and it's not a smooth transition, as it does this on most hills, i'm just parked in my driveway a lot more than any other hill.

Would love someone to point me in the right direction, be it just needing a top up or this is the heads up to start saving for a gearbox rebuild…

Thanks,


(tried search, looked up clunk, bang etc in this topic, to no avail.. sorry if it's been covered!!)

[Sinan]

My money is in your handbrake. Hilux handbrakes are pretty shit. Your car actually slips on the handbrake and will keep skipping till it hits the park gear. Think of it as putting a brick 10cms behind your wheels. Easy to remove at first but as your Hilux rolls onto it, it will get jammed and become impossible to move by hand as it is held in place by the weight of your car. Same thing with the gearbox. Reason why you hear a clunk when you force it out if park. Best advice I can think of is when you go to park your car, come to a stop, place it in neutral and pull the handbrake up HARD. Then let go of the brakes and the car will roll a small amount. Maybe 5cms. Re apply brakes and then put transmission in park. That should fix it your problems.

[Joeslux]

My money is in your handbrake. Hilux handbrakes are pretty shit. Your car actually slips on the handbrake and will keep skipping till it hits the park gear. Think of it as putting a brick 10cms behind your wheels. Easy to remove at first but as your Hilux rolls onto it, it will get jammed and become impossible to move by hand as it is held in place by the weight of your car. Same thing with the gearbox. Reason why you hear a clunk when you force it out if park. Best advice I can think of is when you go to park your car, come to a stop, place it in neutral and pull the handbrake up HARD. Then let go of the brakes and the car will roll a small amount. Maybe 5cms. Re apply brakes and then put transmission in park. That should fix it your problems.

Spot on

[knoxy]

My money is in your handbrake. Hilux handbrakes are pretty shit. Your car actually slips on the handbrake and will keep skipping till it hits the park gear. Think of it as putting a brick 10cms behind your wheels. Easy to remove at first but as your Hilux rolls onto it, it will get jammed and become impossible to move by hand as it is held in place by the weight of your car. Same thing with the gearbox. Reason why you hear a clunk when you force it out if park. Best advice I can think of is when you go to park your car, come to a stop, place it in neutral and pull the handbrake up HARD. Then let go of the brakes and the car will roll a small amount. Maybe 5cms. Re apply brakes and then put transmission in park. That should fix it your problems.

You're a dead set legend. Thank you so much!! I'll start doing this, hopefully it fixes it! Long term, does this mean I should be replacing the hand brake/needs serious adjustment etc? Or is it
Just a fact of life with hiluxs, get into the habit kind of thing? Thanks again!!!

[Sinan]

I'm not a transmission specialist but I'm assuming it may damage it in the long term. Try adjusting the handbrake till it actually holds the weight if the car. Or just find some where more flat to park. You could also bolt a long piece of concrete or timber like they do in the car parks and let the car roll onto it and then place it in park.

[knoxy]

I'm not a transmission specialist but I'm assuming it may damage it in the long term. Try adjusting the handbrake till it actually holds the weight if the car. Or just find some where more flat to park. You could also bolt a long piece of concrete or timber like they do in the car parks and let the car roll onto it and then place it in park.

Ill get my mechanic to do the hand brake soon, i'm getting the dual booster, new rotors and pads for the lux' in her next service, hopefully with all this the handbrake and in general braking should be up there with the mrs. focus! hahah.. nearly put us both through the windshield when i drive that focus.. the brakes are unreal!

[wije]

My money is in your handbrake. Hilux handbrakes are pretty shit. Your car actually slips on the handbrake and will keep skipping till it hits the park gear. Think of it as putting a brick 10cms behind your wheels. Easy to remove at first but as your Hilux rolls onto it, it will get jammed and become impossible to move by hand as it is held in place by the weight of your car. Same thing with the gearbox. Reason why you hear a clunk when you force it out if park. Best advice I can think of is when you go to park your car, come to a stop, place it in neutral and pull the handbrake up HARD. Then let go of the brakes and the car will roll a small amount. Maybe 5cms. Re apply brakes and then put transmission in park. That should fix it your problems.

Absolute gold.