Neutral gear safety switch

[dwomby]

It turns out my problem was not what I described to Brian above.

In my case, it was that a previous owner had replaced the starter relay with a non-standard one and mis-wired it so that the relay was permanently grounded - thus the car would start regardless of the gear selector position.

The Neutral Safety Switch had been left out of the circuit. I have fixed it now.

David

Originally Posted by dwomby

Brian,

The Neutral Start Switch sits in the transmission and it sounds like you found it. It is supposed to provide a route to earth/ground for the starter solenoid (when in neutral only, of course).

I have the same problem with mine albeit I have pushbutton transmission selector. Mine will start in Reverse. The experts this side of the pond say my selector cable needs adjusting so that the selector in the valve body (a pivoting plate with lobes on it for each position (PRNDL etc)) is aligned correctly and only closes the Neutral Start Switch when the neutral lobe is aligned with the switch.

I haven't fixed mine yet but hope that helps.

David