Park/Neutral Problem

AareDub · Aug 16th, 2005, 08:43 PM

A few months ago my 93 Altima would not start, I realized for some reason that it was not all the way in Park. I simply moved it there and it started fine. Now a few weeks ago it occasionally would not start even though it was in park. I simply had to move it to neutral, then back into park to get it started. I even started it in neutral a few times. Now the car will not start at all. The battery is fine, I'm wondering if there is something that detects that the car is in neutral or park that has possibly gone bad. I really know very little about cars, but I did notice under the hood there is a large box (almost like a fuse box) and of them is labeled "clutch n/p." Could this part possibly be the problem?

Any ideas on this?

-edit-
I should also mention that I have been having some strange electrical problems as well. For example, when I step on the brake, my clock goes off. It keeps the correct time, but it won't display as long as the break is down. My seatbelt light turns on and off randomly. I'm not sure if these are related to the current problem or not.

erik2282 · Aug 17th, 2005, 07:52 PM

p/n p(park/nuetral positon) switch is probably bad.

AareDub · Aug 18th, 2005, 12:40 AM

Is that the same piece I described, or do you mean the neutral safety switch?

KA24Tech · Aug 18th, 2005, 02:50 PM

The start inhibitor switch is located on the trans and if you have a Haynes manual it gives a good adjustment procedure for the linkage. This problem sounds like it is just an adjustment issue.

Your electrical problem is probably corrosion in the taillight bulb socket or a ground. Pull the bulbs and use spray contact cleaner and a pencil eraser to polish the contacts clean. Then clean the ground on the body and the the ring connector with Scotchbrite and paint it with some grease or even antiseize after reattaching it to insolate it.

Troy

erik2282 · Aug 18th, 2005, 09:22 PM

its the same switch, just different names