Hi
car would not start and I thought it’s the battery. roadside assistance guy said it’s the starter. he got the car to start. I asked “how did you do it?” he said “I bypassed it” not sure what that means. then he showed me this trick. he told me to get in the car, and put it in N, and while the car is moving, suddenly put it in P. I did that a few times. now every time I start the car, it starts fine. I am wondering if I am good to go or if the starter still needs to be changed?
Slamming the gear shift lever from Neutral to Park while vehicle is moving is a really good way to cost yourself hundreds of dollars for transmission repair .
A good independent shop can check your starter , battery and alternator.
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There may be a problem with the park/neutral safety switch, and not with the starter.
Tester
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The starter motor must receive battery voltage on its “s” terminal to begin to crank the engine. I expect the road assistance person used a jumper wire to direct connect battery voltage to the s terminal. If the fiddling with the N and P positions helps, above comment about a faulty or improperly adjusted neutral safety switch seem likely. That switch prevents cranking the engine in gear, so if you go into 7-11 and leave kids in car they can’t turn the key and the car drives into the store’s window. but the switch often fails over time, and needs to be replaced or at least re-calibrated to the position of the gear lever.
Note that’s is possible the N/P manipulation effect was just a coincidence, and either the battery or the starter motor is on the fritz. Suggest to ask a shop to check them both asap. Otherwise you may end up stranded, car won’t start. They can check the switch at the same time.
If they say they won’t do it unless he car is having the symptom, either wait and have it towed when it occurs again, or find another more customer-friendly shop. (Note, the more customer friendly shop may also be more expensive.)
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Something wrong. Obviously this is an automatic which can’t be started by pushing it. So how do you bypass the starter motor and still use the starter to start the car? Yeah I think he disconnected the neutral safety switch or used a jumper wire however they work.
Possibly shift linkage is slightly out of adjustment.
Or the park/neutral safety switch is out of adjustment.
I’ve rarely seen shift linkage (cable) go out of adjustment.
Tester
And if it does, slamming the transmission into park while the car is moving won’t put it back into adjustment, or adjust the neutral safety switch.
Somebody needs to do some legitimate troubleshooting, in person, and not over the internet to find the original problem.
As already stated, slamming your vehicle into Park while still moving is only going to sooner or later damage/break the Parking Paw mechanism and one of the next times you need to put your vehicle in park it will just start rolling down hill rather you are in it or not and that could be very dangerous and or deadly… So who ever said to that needs to stop giving out advise and just tow you or jump start you only…
Yes you might get away with it a few times but at some point it will break!!!
First, agree 100% never slam a moving vehicle into park. Now, did the roadside assistant guy start the car from under the hood? If he did, then he jumped two of the terminals on the solenoid. Usually when this works, it means the solenoid is going bad and with todays vehcles, that means replacing the starter.
The fact that it starts OK now tells me that all those who have pointed to the park/neutral safety switch are right. In the future, if it fails to start in park, then shift to neutral and try again, or just jiggle the stick in park with the key in the start position.
A starter can get intermittent. If it fails to start by moving the stick shift, then try tapping the starter with the handle of a screwdriver or small hammer or a stick and see if that works. If it does, then replace the starter ASAP.