I guess I'll have to just stick to my old, manual trucks. It's getting harder and harder to even FIND a manual any more, since no one is learning how to drive one. Shift points, use of compression braking, starting, all that fun stuff, is left to driver.Īside from being a control freak, I guess, preferring a manual by far over an automatic, the auto has many more gimmicks, safety systems, etc, to fail. IMHO, that's the beauty of a manual transmission. They pretty much leave the safety aspect up to the wing-nut behind the wheel.

In any event, the system doesn't seem to care where the shifter, or transmission, might be, as far as position. If you use the Clutch Cancel switch, obviously, you either need to be neutral, or have the clutch pedal depressed, or the starter will try to move the truck as you crank. Whether you're in gear, and if so, what gear you might be in, doesn't matter. You either need to have the clutch pedal fully depressed, OR the Clutch Cancel switch clicked. The manual transmissions, at least in the older trucks, have a Clutch safety system. Can anyone explain the mechanism and what could be wrong that causes the 'D' position to stay dark? It sure seems like a dealership would know this and not tell me it is a light if it isn't.Ĭlick to expand.Yes and no. To me it seems that only one light would light up all of them and that some sort of physical cover makes sure that only one will show lit up at one time as you shift through the gears, but I don't know how this stuff works. I mean 'R', 'N', '1' light up but not 'D'. My question is what could be causing only one of the 5 or so slots to not light up. We will see if they are good to their word. They claim that they will find the problem and not charge me further when I bring it back in. So after I pay them, I get in my car to drive home and THE 'D' IS STILL NOT LIGHTING UP WHEN I PUT IT IN DRIVE! Of course I was irate and immediately called the dealership when I got home and gave them a piece of my mind. I don't want to tell you what they charged to replace the bulbs. I told them okay, go ahead and replace the bulb and while you are in there replace all of my dash bulbs since the SUV is 20 years old and the bulbs could go at any time. They told me that I had a bad bulb in the dash. A few years ago I went to a Toyota dealership and they noticed that when you shift between gears, all of the positions light up in my dash display EXCEPT the 'D' (drive position).

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