Prius 3 parking lock actuator

How do you park your car? “Handbrake” first and than switching to P or uou just switch to P?

 

I would try using the “handbrake” before P. If that helps, it’s normal working, just that “stick” thighten.

 

The park position was not designed to hold the car. If you are on uneven ground, the gear will
press against the paw.
If you stop, put the trans in nuetrul, foot brake, then "p" when you stop.
When you start, foot on brake pedal, start car, release parking brake, move to "drive, etc.
See how that works...

 

mmm Have you checked your motor mounts? Maybe one is broken and it's the engine and transmission
rocking back and forth?

 

Something is obviously not right. But I'm not sure why you are convinced it is the parking pawl. It could be but who knows.

If it's practical for you: maybe start by checking there's no transaxle fluid leak, and that the level's ok. You need the car raised and level. Then remove the fill bolt, and feel with a finger: the fluid should ideally be level with the hole lip, or no more than 10 mm lower. When reinstalling the fill bolt torque to 29 ft/lbs. Preferably with new washer, but it should be ok to just reuse the once. You need a 10 mm Allen Key style "socket" for this.

After that, dealership visit? Have them test drive it for starters. It would be easy for them to check for leaks and do the level check too.

 

I had a pLock actuator replaced after getting an error message and not being able to shift my car out of park. This happened 4 times. Several time I had to be towed to the dealer. It was so rare there were almost no references I could find anywhere on the net. The pLock pawl should retract when you shift out of Park but on mine it was not retracting. I thought it was a mechanical deformation but not so.

While this was on a Prius v (the wagon) I thought this insight might help.

You should stop, keep foot on brake pedal, shift to park and then engage the pLock and only after that remove your foot from the brake pedal. Especially important when parking on slanted ground.

 

This doesn't sound like a typical P-lock problem related to a weak 12V battery. There is normally an MFD code displayed, "P lock malfunction when parking, park in flat place and apply parking brake securely". So, moving on from that, I'm wondering about idle speed. The throttle body can get gunked up to the point the throttle plate doesn't close all the way and additional RPM's will get distributed through the PSD (Power Shift Device, the "transmission" if you want to call it that) and could make shifting difficult as you describe. I guess check idle speed? Could be a problem in the PSD also, in the planetary gearing. Something dragging or not releasing. Don't know if there would be codes. Just some thoughts.

 

Look at this thread especially towards the end and you will see they replaced some other parts and whether it was the parts or their having to reattach all the connections we will never know. 5th pLock Malfunction failure | PriusChat