QuestionQUESTION: a car repair friend of a friend told me that my problem is a neutral safety switch and what he wants to charge me to repair it i feel is a bit much. can you tell me where to find the switch and where i can find information on how to replace it?
ANSWER: The neutral safety switch is part of the 'range sensor' and is located inside the transmission where it is attached to the lower end of the vertical rod that rotates when you move the gear selector. It has 5 switches, several of which are closed in P or N. You have to drop a pan and remove the valve body to get to it. Before getting into that I would check out the switches in that range sensor to see if it is truly the problem. What is the problem?
Do you have an ohmmeter or continuity tester so you can do this yourself? If so, I can tell you what measurements you need to make to check it out.
Roland
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QUESTION: it began with the car being shut off and not starting again, thought it was starter, wasnt, thought it was a fuse, wasnt, thought it was the ignition switch. it wasnt. cant afford to keep putting money into it. now the trans is stuck in reverse,wont go out of it, parking lever shows its in park though. any suggestions as to anything else?
AnswerHi Donette,
The cable that connects may be jammed between the shift lever and the transmission vertical shift rod. I would suggest that you inspect the connection at the vertical shift rod located on the driver side of the transmission on the top side. Have a helper move the shift lever as you watch the transmission at the rear of the engine to see what moves. You can disconnect the cable from the lever arm by removing a screw on the top side of the lever/cable connector. Then see if you can rotate the vertical rod/lever by hand or if it is jammed. If with the cable loosened you can't rotate that rod, then the range sensor or attached shift mechanism in the transmission has somehow gotten hung up or some similar issue inside. Let me know what you find and we'll go from there. If you can rotate it, let me know and I'll tell you how to reset the connecting cable.
There was a change it the cable/lever adjustment, so let me describe how to release the cable from the shift lever in a different way. The cable's outside sheath is clamped at o-ring through which it passes near the shift lever. You will see a tube that is used to put trans fluid into a hole next to the vertical shift rod. That tube is probably hiding the clamp at the o-ring from view. The tube is bolted to the same structure with the o-ring. You may have to jack up the left front wheel and loosen that bolt from the underside to allow you to remove the bolt and then you can rotate the fill tube out of the way for access to the cable clamp. Then you unbolt the clamp the holds the shift cable sheath and that will allow you to remove the cable from the shift lever so that you can try rotating the vertical shift rod/lever which is what changes the shift positions of the transmission. If that rod will rotate by hand then you should be able to reattach the cable if the cable will move inside the sheath when a a helper tries to move the gear shift lever in the cabin. To attach and adjust the cable you rotate the vertical rod as far it will turn toward the rear of the vehicle, which is the P position. The front wheels should be locked in that position. Then you put cable connector back on the shift lever after you have positioned the shift lever in the cabin to also be in the P position. Then you clamp the cable sheath while both levers are in the P position. Then try the shift mechanism from the cabin to see it it will move to all the positions. If the shift rod will not rotate wnen you have the cable removed, then it is possible that you have the trans in P on a steep hill? If that is what is locking you up, get some helpers to push the vehicle in the direction against gravity while another helper tries to shift it out of P. It could be that you just have locked things up by using P when the vehicle is located on a steep hill? Might that be the case?
Roland
PS Thanks for the rating and nomination.
