99 Taurus electrical problems, neutral switch?

[bheston]

A friend has a 99 Taurus having some strange electrical problems, I'll try to give some of the symptoms.
1. Put the car in reverse, no power steering. Shift to Drive, power steering works fine, back to reverse and no power steering again. This has happened multiple times but does not always happen.
2. Car running in park, radio works fine, shift to drive and radio still has power but does not put out any sound. Shift back to park and the sound comes back. (not sure what reverse does in this case)

He took it to a dealer and they think the shift position switch, or neutral switch, is bad and that is effecting the GEM module which is giving the odd electrical problems. They don't think the GEM is bad, just the neutral switch, but aren't sure if this will solve the problem or not. $90 for the part, $140 for labor, this seems a little high to see if it solves the problem or not.

Any ideas, does this diagnostic sound right???
Thanks for the help, this site is great!

[shorod]

There have been numerous posts on this forum for strange electrical issues associated with faulty Manual Lever Position Switch (MLPS) or Transmission Range Sensor (TRS) or Park/Neutral safety switch, different names for the same part. Their diagnosis sounds reasonable. The part is not that difficult to replace, use the "Search this forum" feature from the Taurus forum main page if you are interested in determining if you or your friend would consider tackling replacement of this part and save most of $140.

-Rod