RAV4 Gear Selection Issues

My 2001 Toyota RAV4, gasoline engine, is having gear selection issues. The gear shift indicator display is not working. It's impossible to engage gears properly, shifting is all over the place, and the gearbox slips. I'm also hearing grinding noises. The speedometer shows no gear selection, and there's an error code stored. Mileage is 32553 km. Thoughts?

4 comment(s)

I had something similar happen with my RAV4. Same symptoms, especially the weird shifting and the display going blank. Did you check the control unit? That was the culprit in my case.

Control unit? Where is that located, and is it something I can check myself, or am I better off taking it to a shop?

It's likely the affected control unit is defective, as it was in my case. It's not easily accessible without some disassembly, and diagnostics usually require specialized tools. Considering the shifting problems and error codes, a workshop visit is probably the best course of action. My eventual repair cost was around 1000€.

Thanks for the info! Sounds like it's beyond my skillset. I'll take it to a workshop and mention the control unit. Appreciate the help.

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