legacycentral bbs

Ok so I just bought a few parts to get this car back on the road, I just got it back from a transmission shop after having a trans pump replaced and drove it home, only minor issues but it made it home fine. It sat for a bit as I had to save $$ to get necessary parts, after installing a radiator, I filled the reservoir with coolant and tried to start it and nothing...the "door ajar" indicator went out as I turned the key but nothing else.

So I searched around and all I found was a broken ground from the firewall to the pitch mount on the transmission, so I made a new wire and but it back, NOW I have a light for the gear selector showing it is in park. Also when I push the button on the auto gear shift knob I can hear a click coming from the ignition area, but that is all, it won't even crank. I also notice there is no interior fuse box and no relay under the hood is labelled for the starter.

I have looked around and my starting issue seems unique compared to others, is there anything that might cause the car to not send power to the starter or cut off ignition for some reason?

1993 Legacy Sport Sedan Automatic

I think you have a malfunctioning interlock somewhere preventing the activation of starter. Does it crank in neutral?

Check the Neutral Safety Switch

I would start with the neutral switch.. It sounds like the computer thinks its in gear..... the trans shop may not have tightened the shift sensor(electronic thing on the side of the trans that tells the computer what gear your in) enough.. if it moved when you drove then you may need to loosen it up and adjust it slightly...

I have had that happen to me after replacing a trans at work...

well this shop sucks so its totally possible, they had loose nuts on the downpipe flange and managed to break my radiator
...thanks everyone I'll try these things, this crap makes me hate automatics all that much more.

Make them fix it. Sounds like they're giving you the runabouts

I don't want them to touch any vehicle I own ever again, the guy who drove my car out of the lot had like 3 teeth...i'm all set lol!

I didn't get a chance to start it up today though, I still need to get some coolant and top it off...hopefully tomorrow

I know it may sound trivial, but check to make sure your battery is good.

the battery is good, It starts my RS up every time. The car did not crank in neutral today either, didn't get a chance to check the neutral switch either. Hopefully is one of those things mentioned earlier...

Now if the neutral safety switch was bad or not adjusted properly, wouldn't it not show what gear it was in or display it incorrectly...i am not to savvy with at trans so I really don't know

xise wrote:Now if the neutral safety switch was bad or not adjusted properly, wouldn't it not show what gear it was in or display it incorrectly...i am not to savvy with at trans so I really don't know

Have you called them and at least advised them? I'd hate to see you losing out because of something they screwed up.

You already allowed them to screw it up, so give them another try to unscrew it up, or request them to pay have it fixed by someone else.

well if the neutral safety switch, i think is more for a manual car in this yr....

I would focus on the gear selector unit in the side of the trans... if its not properly adjusted it will display the wrong gear or incorrectly on the dash... this will cause your car not to start or even attempt to because the computer thinks the trans is in gear and starting it like that can do damage, thats y it doesnt even try

SO adjusting the gear sonsor/switch or range selector.. when you slide under the car, there will be a flat electronic piece on the driver side.. it will have a metal arm coming off of it with a cable attached(cable goes to your shifter)... loosen the three bolts on the sensor and turn ignition on to position 1.. slowely rotate the sensor tell it displays the correctly on the dash... tighten and try starting.. they can be kind of sensitive... also make sure the cable to your shifter is tight..

when the sensor is properly adjusted, the light on the dash will switch at the exact same time you shift the stick.. make sure it goes into every gear properly.

I have done lots of trans stuff... let me know if this doesnt work

xise wrote:Now if the neutral safety switch was bad or not adjusted properly, wouldn't it not show what gear it was in or display it incorrectly...i am not to savvy with at trans so I really don't know

Sometimes with a NSS you can manual switch through the gears (holding down the little black tab next to the gear selector) a couple times, then try starting it. I've even seen some start up in the next gear below Park (next on our cars is Reverse). This helps pin point if its the NSS.

so if it starts in any other gear other than park it is the NSS then...I tried shifting up and down the gears, ill mess w/ it some more and see what I come up with, thanks for these little tricks. I'll try em all before I spend any more $$

it isn't starting in any gear, the gear selector light on the dash is out again and still nothing...I'm not 100% sure on how to adjust this cable or if the switch just needs to be replaced...tough thing is it is on a hill so I can't even jack it up safely to get under there to do the job...bullocks. this is starting to get annoying.

Man that sucks.. sorry to hear it.. If i where you I would check the wiring and the switch at the trans.. I would think that if there is no light on the dash then the computer is disabling everything. thats my 2 cents. good luck

thanks, hopefully I get this figured out, wish I had more time to spend on it...I really need to get it towed out of my driveway so I can really work on it. Nothing I can do with it on the hill the way it is. And now the gear selector light is off again...something must be loose.

also try looking at the wires, make sure that shop didnt break anything when the did the work..

If the gear selector lights don't work on the dash I'd check to make sure the electrical connectors are plugged in correctly and the wires look good and are not damaged.

More than likely you've got an electrical issue. The inhibitor switch on the auto trans's is what handles the "NSS" function as well as all the starter interlock circuit. So if the wiring going to the trans, including the inhibitor switch, you won't get the display lights on the dash or be able to start the car.

Strange thing is at first, I didn't have the lights on the dash... I replaced the broken ground at the pitch stop and then I DID have the gear selector lights...with no change in the starting situation then it suddenly stopped coming on....weird

When you added the ground you may have moved some of the transmission wiring harness around, which might have made momentary connection to allow the lights to come on.

You're going to have to break out the multi meter and check the solenoids and other wiring going to the transmission to see what is bad and what is not.

Looks that way to me...my $4 harbor freight multimeter has been getting a workout lately. I am going to kick myself of it is just a loose connection, I do have a bad habit of overlooking simple things like that though

fixed it was a fricken electrical plug that the plastic part that clips on broke so it was loose...just pluged it back in started er up and that was that...I checked everything but the wire harnesses coming from the trans...duh


here was the culprit...only figured it out when I had some nice uninterupted time to look at it

congrats..... good to hear you figured it out and didnt have to take a ton of stuff apart. If it happens again wrap it with a little black tape.

exactly what I was thinking....lol I always fear the worst and check everything else but what it really is