Hey...my first post and I come with a question.

Changed the shifter housing on 1990 240 DL today. Removed OD switch, the shift **** and push button on top. Put on new housing and now the car won't start. Prior to this, occasionally car would not start and you would need to ensure it was in park by dropping car to low and put it back into park and it would start right up. Yeah, you can still shift through the gears without foot on break or car turned on. I have searched through the forums and this car, too, when in reverse, the reverse lights do not work.

My question is this. Why will car not start now? I have to know ASAP!!!! My son drives the car and we need it up and running soon! Thanks a lot in advance!

 

There is a recent post about reverse lights that made mention of starting problems after messing around in there. Check out that thread.

 

get your dad to look at it, and it will magically fix itself. Its how i fixed my problem.

 

^^^ The only other technique that's better is to take an intermittent problem to a mechanic. You can bet money it won't act up again until you drive it home!

Honestly, a no start after swapping the shifter is almost assuredly an issue with the neutral safety switch. Before tearing into it again, wiggle the shifter around in all gears while holding the key in the start position and see if the starter will catch. There's always the possibility that the replacement shifter has a bad switch...

On the firewall of your car, just to the drivers side of the valve cover, is a single red wire w/ a black female spade connector. It's a test port. If you run a 12-14 gauge wire from there to the terminal on the solenoid where the signal wire from ignition (remove the signal wire) you will be bypassing the neutral safety switch. THIS IS NOT A FIX. THE CAR WILL START IN ANY GEAR!!! Still, it will let you know if the switch is the issue.

 

Actually....I AM the father

It was the metal stem from the shifter not getting into the cam.

However, today...the 240 threw the power steering belt. Now, THAT...I can do

 

At least it was an issue you could physically see.

 

Typically the shifter/safety switch gets sloppy and the male par from the shifter cannot make contact with the female side of the safety switch...no m,atter how much wiggling you do...car won"t start. Need to physically put male together with female then shift into park or neautral...it will start. To fix this issue in the future take a couple washers and put them between the safety switch and the shifter...no more play...viola.

 

Thanks for this valuable reply.
I too had the problem of the pin on the gear selector lever not engaging with the hole on the start inhibitor/backup light switch (black plastic assembly secured to right top edge of shifter housing well by two screws). [Good illustration in Bentley.] In my case ('93 automatic) the gear selector lever had become increasingly "sloppy" over the years but with no ill effects other than feeling imprecise. However, the increasing sloppiness allowed the lever to pivot left so that its pin no longer engaged with the switch. By removing the gear selector trim panel one can easily see the problem and correct it temporarily (without tools). To correct the sloppiness permanently one can tighten the two screws that secure the selector lever to the bottom of the steel well that encloses the entire gear selector assembly. This is done for beneath the car. I have not attempted this as yet since by my holding the selector vertically or to the right, I can easily avoid the pin's coming out of its receptacle on the switch.