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On my 75 L-48 Auto, the other day it left me with no power. Battery was fine, but looking under the hood I found the part pictured. The bracket is obviously pulled away from the firewall, making actuation of the lever iffy. Thinking this just controls the ability to remove the key from the ignition switch, is that correct? During the time I was stranded, I could not move the shifter lever throughout the entire range, just down to reverse or maybe a little farther, but not all the way to neutral. Weird.
Also, while it was unable to start (or crank), I took off the shift plate and poked around to try and see why the shift lever would not move much. I didn't really think I did anything, but between jacking with the aforementioned lever/cable and poking around under the shifter plate, it started. Not only that but I have full motion of the shifter too.
While all is well now, I don't want this to happen again. I had to call my son to pick up my wife from me while I waited for a tow from Hagerty. Fortunately I was able to call off the tow and drive her home without incident, but my wife doesn't really want to go on another ride until I have it fixed.
The part you have pictured is your setting column lock interlock. Your neutral safety switch is down by the shifter assembly in the center console. Here is a thread about it and how to bypass it to make sure it doesn’t get stuck.
A no start/crank condition is usually caused by a bad connection from the battery cables. I would clean and tighten all 4 spots, especially the negative cable ground of the frame. Remove the bolt. Clean to shiny metal, and reinstall.
Hello,
The cable you show is part of the transmission inter-lock.
When you move the shifter to reverse the cable moves and locks the steering wheel from being turned.
Regards....
The firewall end of the cable.
The 'plate' has threaded studs that recieve nuts on the interior side of the firewall.
The transmission end of the cable mounts on the transmission's reverse lever.
I don't understand why the shifter wouldn't move, as if the cable was bad. Then all of the sudden (once I got it started) it moved throughout the entire range with no problem.
Also, the car has no problem with power, all lights, windows, etc. worked while I was stranded, but turning the key produced nothing, no click, no nothing. When it did start, no problem cranking at all. I moved something that allowed it to make contact, hence the question.
Neutral safety switch problem
