Hey guys,
It's gotten really, really friggin' cold here in Calgary this week (-25C!). When I got in the car to drive off, I put the key in and she started fine (in Park, of course). I pushed the gear selector down to Drive and took off.
However, ever since I inherited the beast, the auto tranny gear indicator on the dash will sometimes not light up and show me the correct gear - Either it will not indicate any gear, or the wrong one - But usually only finicky around "D".
However, with this cold snap and me just shoving it down to D, it has gotten really bad! I cannot for the life of me get it to show park, and it only shows neutral in reverse or D. I can get the indicator to show N when it it's really in R, and then slowly move the shifter to N and keep the indicator on N. It's only at this point that the car will start.
It will only start if the car is actually in Park/Neutral and the indicator indicates it's in park/neutral. It seems quite obvious to me that the culprit is the Neutral Safety Switch - Am I right?
How do I get at the neutral safety switch ? I know I need to remove the shift linkage, but does that mean the center console has to come out as well ?
Or is there someway I can 'shock' or manhandle the switch back into position?
Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks.
The transaxle range switch sits on top of the transmission. So you will have to work under the hood. Don't know if it's difficult to replace however.
its to bolts and a nut. the bolts are 12 MM and the nut is 13 mm (someone correct me if im wrong on sizes) and should only take about 15 minutes TOPS to put in.