Push button start in N

[Imperial59crown@xxxxxxx]

Hello Charles, I recently had a bout with my push buttons, and have become a master push button installer in the process. When I had a problem with my Neutral button always stuck in, and had to balance the buttons between R and D, until I heard the car engage in Neutral. I took off the chrome bezel to investigate, and all the buttons became disengaged. It was a mess, but the mailing list came to my rescue. I discovered a previous owner must have had a similar experience, since it looked like they tried to glue the buttons to the attachment clips with silicone. I decided this would be my first interior restoration project and took out all the buttons and brought them up to my kitchen to clean off the silicone, and clean up the buttons. Then I repainted the letters on the D, R and N button since these are the most used, and the letters were unreadable. I used model  paint in white, and painted them as carefully as possible, then waited a few m
inutes and went back with a paper towel with a slight bit of thinner to wipe off the residue. All my buttons looked brand new. My old gasket was also torn in half, so I bought gasket material,  and formed a new one, and glued the old one onto it. Before reinstalling it all I sprayed lubricant on all the connectors back in the dash, and then started the jig saw puzzle of putting the buttons back in from the bottom up. I had to turn the car on at times to make sure the buttons were connected to the correct connector. It is not an easy process, and requires a good flashlight to see back in the dash. It's best to look back in there when all the buttons are out, so you can see how the connectors are lined up. This is also a good time to try to change the light bulb if yours is out. I didn't find it till I had everything reconnected so I decided to leave it out until I do the eventual dash pull out. The bulb is located at the top just out from the connector panel. Once you get all the buttons back in, and they are doing what they ar
e supposed to put your new gasket and bezel back on carefully positioning the buttons through the holes, so they don't disconnect. I probably have one of the best push button drives out there, now if the tranny would stop making bad sounds occasionally when I start out in D, or shift into D, I'll have it made. Wish I had gotten that light bulb! Here is the diagram I was sent to line up the buttons with the connectors. It is right on for my '59, I don't see why '57 or '58 would be any different.____________                      
                 (     N                    )
                 (  R                D    )
                 (          1    2          )
                 (____________)
If your problem is only in your buttons, this exercise will help you greatly. You may also need help with the connectors that go to the transmission. This little diagram was of extreme help to me when doing all this. Bill '59 Crown