Thank you for explaining this.
Can it be said in summary that the sticky/binding switch caused the cable to kink, instead of activating it, thus not allowing the transmission to shift into neutral? From the description, it sounds like the shift lever was moving, but the transmission wasn't responding.
The fact that the neutral safety switch caused trouble doesn't surprise me since these have failed for me often.
Paul W.
Well, my car had this problem for many years. But, it would not happen every time. When I would take it out for a drive for five miles at the least, and try to park the car, the shifter lever would not go up past the "Drive" position. But it would go down into second or first position fine. But not past the drive position. So I would have to shut the car off in gear, set the parking brake, and leave the car sit for at least a half hour to cool down and then it would "Pop" into neutral, reverse, park just fine after that.
I have had different tranny shops look at it, and they never heard of such a thing. They all wanted to get into a complete rebuild to try to cure it. But none of them would guarantee curing that problem. But I knew it couldn't need rebuilt because there was nothing wrong with the road driveability of it. Just stopping to park the car.
Like I said, I had this problem with the car many years, I had to learn where and where not to park because if I were to park in a spot that I would have to back up, I couldn't in case the shifter would decide to stick. Also, I had to run a jumper wire at the starter relay bypassing the neutral safety switch, so I could restart the car in gear after a quick gas up.{NO ONE else drove the car but me!}
I know it sounds like a lot of monkey business, but being the stubborn mechanic that I am, there had to be something simple causing the trouble. I had even called around for another trans, but decided that wasn't going to be an option for me. One time, I thought that I had it diagnosed to be in the valve body after immediately taking down the trans pan one time while it was stuck in gear. The cable in the trans was loose, and the manual lever on the valve body was tight.But trying ''3'' valve bodies later, the problem was still there. I even tried bypassing the trans cooler lines from the radiator thinking that pressure maybe building up in the valve body and not letting the manual valve release until it would sit for a while and bleed the pressure down. I had done all of this and more over the course of about 10 years!! So, finally I had asked for help on the Imperial Mailing List, and Glen Johnson had the answer th
at I had needed. He had the same trouble with his car, and he had the neutral switch and the shift cable both replaced. WOW- so obvious! Well, I tried the new switch first because I knew that my cable was working freely. And YES, I could drive my Imperial like a normal car again!
After looking back, it should have been obvious to maybe replace that neutral switch. It must have been getting hot and it would stick keeping the valve body lever from going past the drive detent. And since it is the cable shift type, the cable would not ''push'' the valve lever past the ''drive'' detent.It would just kink. Now I have been driving the car for 16 months since replacing the switch with no problems. It is great that we can share info with each other about diffrent experiences.
So, if anyone has a cable shift, lever or push button type that seems tight or kind of rough, it may be worth replacing that switch before doing alot of other work or expense. Rob Kidd 61/65
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2006 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: IML: 65 Cable Shift Trans Problem "Cured"
Can you explain to us how the switch caused this? I think this would be helpful. Thanks!
Paul W.
-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Kidd <
rlkidd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:
mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxCc: Rob Kidd <
rlkidd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 09:00:36 -0400
Subject: IML: 65 Cable Shift Trans Problem "Cured"
Last Feb. I had asked for advice on an odd trans problem that no one around here had heard of. My 65 would not manually shift out of drive position when warmed up. And leave it to an Imperial club member to bail me out! It was a faulty neutral safety switch on the trans. So, if anyone has a manual shift problem, it may be smart to replace the switch first. Thanks for the advice Glen Johnson! Rob Kidd 61/65
Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email and IM. All on demand. Always Free.
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.9.0/368 - Release Date: 6/16/06
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network