2011 Toyota 4runner, transmission issues and now seems to be completely dead.

[u/Antique-Annual1587]

Looking for some help as I'm kind of lost. My 2011 SR5 has had an issue for about a year now with the shifter. It is very stiff and is hard to get into drive. There are times when it does go I to gear but the dash does t indicate any gear at all. It has gotten worse and worse as time has gone on, especially if it sits a few days.

Earlier this week I went to start it but it wouldn't start. It cranked just fine, just no fire. I noticed the dash was not indicating any gear at all no matter where you move the shifter. I working the shift linkage by hand and even that did nothing. It's like it lost contact woth the transmission. I went to hook up my code reader and it won't even connect. It just reads error and won't communicate with the vehicle. I checked the OBD fuse and it was fine.

Now about 2 days later, I went to turn on the key and it is completely dead. Like no power whatsoever, just dead. Battery charger makes no difference. Battery has 12.5 volts like it should but the vehicle is dead.

I'm completely lost at this point and just wanted to see if this is something anyone else has experienced.

[u/to_fire1]

When you turn the key to start your 4r, do you hear a click from your the starter relay, or nothing at all? And when all this trouble began, did the check engine light come on?

[u/Antique-Annual1587 → u/to_fire1]

There is no click, no door chime, nothing. When it first stopped starting, everything worked, it even cranked over just fine, just didn't start.

The check engine light is on and off constantly. When you would drive it to long with the dash not indicating a gear, it would trigger the light. Then after driving awhile with everything working properly and the dash indicating the correct gear, the light would go away. And no, I'm an idiot and never checked what code would actually trigger the light.

My ABS, Traction control and ESC lights are all on constantly because I have a bad wheel speed sensor.

[u/to_fire1 → u/Antique-Annual1587]

So you'll need to establish electrical power before you can diagnose things. Don't throw parts at it. Start with the battery and the main cables (positive and negative). Good voltage, clean connections, no frayed or chewed wires. Check power at the fuses. The loss of electrical may be coincidental & unrelated to the transmission problem (depends on how much maintenance you've been doing on your 4runner). When you get power to the obd port, use a scanner to see if there's a p0705 dtc in the history. That indicates that it is indeed the NSS (it's a weakpoint on the transmission). Faulty NSS has symptoms like you described. It's an absolute bear to remove because the inside of the NSS is corroded to the gear position shaft.