neutral safety switch?

[afsmith]

Hi all,I know there is an existing thread about a similar issue,but mine started a little differnt. In park sometimes, the ignition would not fire. I would then just move the selector to neutral and it would fire up every time. this has been going on for about 5 years. Lately, it wouldnt work in either spot. If I played with the selector enough it would usually catch. Today,however, had the same issue,couldnt get it to fire, kept playing with it and eventually heard a pop under the hood and the smell of burnt electical. Played with the selector a bit more and it fired up,but I had no speedo, no overdrive, no wait to start light, etc. Could this be the result of a bad neutral safety switch? I really wish I knew how diagnose these electrical issues, but instead I'm going to lean on you guys. That will teach me to put something off for 5 years!

 

[B.G. Smith]

I believe the switch is in the drivers side of the transmission. Can't guess what may have happened unless the switch came apart, shorted to ground and either blew a fuse or a fusible link. bg

 

[DVolk]

Yes the switch is on the drivers side has 3 pins on it possibly 4 takes a 7/8 or 13/16 "

 

[cerberusiam]

Linkage gets worn and won't center the detent correctly anymore. The pop and smoke under the hood is your biggest problem now, probably cooked one of the fusible links.