1995 Century Won't start in park

[lys1980]

Hello,
I have a 1995 Buick Century that has a weird problem. It won't start in park and will only start in neutral if you slam on the brakes a few times. If you hit the brake pedal a few times until you hear a clunk or crunch sound then it will start. Sometimes I only have to hit the brake once, sometimes 10 times. Once it is started it runs fine, no problems until you turn it off and try to start it again. It has been doing this for about a week, at first it would take a few tries, but it would start in park, then after 2 days it wouldn't start in park but would start in neutral, then after another few days it wouldn't start at all, we thought it was done for good and my brother got mad at it and started kicking on the brake pedal while cranking the ignition and after 3 kicks it started up, which scared the crap out of everybody. Then it started in neutral the rest of that day, and after that it wouldn't start without kicking the brake. I took it to my regular mechanic and showed him what it did, he said he's never seen any car do that and he's worked on them for 36 years. All he could suggest would be an electrical problem at $60 an hour for who knows how long plus the parts when he finds the problem, if he can find it. I also called the buick dealer and they said the same thing, "We'll look at it if you give us a bunch of money, but we won't guarantee we'll find what's wrong." So this is my last hope. If anyone has heard of this before or has an idea of what it could be, I would be very grateful. Sorry for the extremely long post but I wanted to include all the information I had. Thanks to all who read!

[public]

Sounds common enough to me. You need a Neutral Safety Switch. It is on top of the tranny where the shift cable attaches. It is designed to keep you from starting the car while in gear. This is a cheap and easy repair. Good Luck.

[Flatrater]

The Netural saftey switch is adjustable. I would try adjusting it first if that fails replace it and make sure it is adjusted. The 2 bolts that mount it to the trans are in slotted holes, get the bolts hand tight and see if the car starts in park and nuetral if it does tighten the bolts if not keep moving the switch till it does.