legacycentral bbs

My Legacy is stranded. (automatic)
It powers on the electical system, but wont start.
I can't even shift it out of park without pushing the little black button.
Once I push the button, I can shift through all the selections and back into park and pull the key out... but I can't turn the key to start it again.

By fiddling with it, I got it to start once... so I could get it home, but now I can't start it again.

What the heck is going on here?
If this is a safety switch issue - can I bypass it?

Okay, now I noticed that the gear indicated on the dash and what the position of the selector actually is in, are often different things.
If I fiddle with the shifter until the indicated gear is Neutral - can't get it into park - and I put the selector into neutral, then I can start it.

This is the most irritating automotive issue I have ever come across. Especially since I have no idea what the issue is.

Is there anyone with a 92 MANUAL Legacy that would like to trade for an Auto? I hate autos very much and thing that I'll end up dumping this car for a stick at the first taker.

I have a 94 legacy turbo, it does the same thing once in a while. all you have to do is fiddle the shifter up and down a bit till it clicks into park then the car will start..

does you key get stuck in it too ?

it's a bit annoying, i've found docs on the net for how to fix it.. on this site maybe.. not sure.

Uh, no... the key doesn't get stuck... and fiddling with it to get it into park isn't it.

*sigh*

Read the posts again.