Fails to start in Park, but will start in Neutral - intermittent problem

[sevenHD]

Its still pretty rare but occasionally my '99 5.9 engine won't even engage the starter while in Park - but shifting to Neutral & it will start no problem.

is there some gizmo thats preventing starting in Park ?

 

[muddy12]

Most likely culprit is the neutral safety switch.
Had a Dakota that did the same thing years ago.
It is supposed to only allow the starter to engage in park and neutral.
If the shifter linkage gets worn, the shifter can show “park”, but the switch won’t be fully engaged, and will prevent starting.

With the Dakota, when it wouldn’t start, I just had to give the shifter a somewhat forceful nudge into park, and it would start.


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[dudeman2009]

As muddy said, it could be a neutral safety switch, or it could be the shift linkage being slightly out.

To adjust the shift linkage, block the wheels front and back. Put the truck in park and crawl underneath the truck. Under the drivers feet there is a metal linkage with a spring and bolt, that is your adjuster. Loosen it and push it a little down into the spring I believe, that will move the trans linkage back in line with the sifter. I don't remember well what that direction is, it's been awhile. But you can tell by loosening it and by hand pushing the manual lever on the trans into another gear, that will give you a direction.

After you adjust the linkage, you may need to adjust the indicator, there is a plastic knob under the dash on the steering column for that. It's best to adjust that in neutral so it's even on both ends of travel.

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