Sat for a while, started up but stuck in first until I played with the throttle cable

So my van sat for a month, and much to my delight started straight up.
The accelerator pedal felt like it had seized, until I kicked it and it started moving again freely.
As I started driving, I quickly realised I was stuck in first gear. After a run out the road it eventually kicked into second, but not third.
Checked under the driver's seat, and there was a lot of play in the throttle cable if I pressed and released the pedal. Played with it for a little while until it sprang back to a resting position more readily. Headed out the road again and presto! First to third no problem (I'm still having pesky OD problems :pissed: ).

After this should there be anything else I should do to prevent this happening? Lube/clean anything etc?

my first toyota van was an automatic and i remember that it would,nt shift into overdrive too. i thought the tranny was shot but to my surprise all it needed was a water temp sensor. i hope others will add here for your situation. it was a long time ago and i really cant remember that well.since then i,ve had 2 manual vans that ended that situation. you,ll get it! best of luck to ya

If you keep using the van regularly you may not need to do anything else, but I would recommend getting a can of Tri-Flow cable lubricant and working some of it down your cables. It can be a small challenge to get it into the right spots. If you can get the spray tube inside that rubber boot that might help. Another way would be to remove the boot, put the spray tube up against the sheath (parallel to the cable), and tightly wrap plastic wrap around it. With it like this you should be able to force some of the spray into the sheath and down where it can do some good. If you need to remove the cable(s) from the bracket, don't mess with the nut position as this will affect the adjustment of your kick-down shift point.

On your OD, the 1st thing to do is disconnect the overdrive thermo switch on the head. Here's a thread where this has been discussed: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...erdrive-issues

Here's another thread that gets more in depth regarding the kick-down cable replacement. Hopefully it won't come to that: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...months-sitting

Wicked, I'll try finding some of that lube. Replacing the cable looks like an ordeal.

I already have the water thermo switch disconnected, checked fuses and replaced the thermostat - next thing on the list is the relay when I have a chance to open it up and hopefully that solves the problem and it's not the solenoid. After about an hour of driving though it will kick into OD, so I hope the solenoid is ok.