HALP! No start, 99 Chev Prizm, again.

Wife walks out to car, car will not start. Won't turn over. Has power. Starter was recently replaced, car started 3 days ago. Will not start this morning. Was a junkyard starter. Battery has sufficient voltage as far as I can tell. Car is in park (otto matic). Trans linkage was a little stiff from sitting- I wondered if the emergency lockout switch for starting it went bad. Cannot find a way to cheat the system.... thoughts?

Man you are just having all sorts of car issues.

Is the relay clicking when you turn the ignition to start?

No, no clicks, no noises, nothing. Plenty of power. I hooked up the ms3 with a month old battery- no change, so it's not a voltage issue. It was a 35$ JY starter, might it have just gone bad spontaneously? Car ran and drove 3 days ago. Wife had a long weekend off.

And YES I am having massive car issues.

Small update, the thing started. I BELIEVE the problem is somewhere in the ignition lockout. It will let me turn the car all the way to cranking, but it will not crank. I went to push the car into the garage to get the starter out- and about 3/4 of the way there, I had to stop, because pushing ones wife and child in a car by oneself is a biiiitch. She put it in park- car would not shift OUT of park when it was time to move car again- like the battery was toast. Battery is 4 months old (and out of the blown up MINI, but that's another story) so it's fine. Hit the emergency unlock switch, threw it into neutral. Threw it BACK into park- hit the key, sumbitch fires right up, hence my question. Drove it around the block, shut it down, went to start it again, fired right up. So- something is wrong, the question is, what.

Bad PRNDL switch.

IF it is the neutral safety switch

likely part number would be... 84540-16050

Corolla 1997.08-1999.08 4cyl 1.8L ATM VE
Corolla 1995.08- 4cyl 1.6L ATM N SED Corolla 1995.08- 4cyl 1.6L ATM D SED RAV4 1996.02-1997.09 4cyl 2.0L ATM HT 4D RAV4 1996.02-1997.09 4cyl 2.0L ATM HT 2D PASEO 1995.08- 4cyl 1.5L ATM CVT PASEO 1995.08- 4cyl 1.5L ATM CP
PASEO 1994.09-1995.08 4cyl 1.5L ATM
TERCEL 1994.09- 4cyl 1.5L ATM STD 2DS TERCEL 1994.09- 4cyl 1.5L ATM DX 4DS TERCEL 1994.09- 4cyl 1.5L ATM DX 2DS

How does one defeat said PRNDL switch? I'm not above ghetto/free. And thank you for saying that- I figured that's what it was- but did not have the words to describe it.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Bad PRNDL switch.

33560-02010

personally... I'd go to a boneyard and get a new shifter assembly.... seems like the quickest way....

Ugh... DNW boneyard- it's cold here!

Rock auto seems to think it has two switches. I have the full GM service books for this exact car, I'll check which switch it references(there are two) for starting. Hopefully its the cheap little one in the shifter and not the actual $130 "PRNDL" range switch on the trans.

Edit: I'm stupid, the one in the shifter is actually the solenoid keeping you in park. So go junkyard a PRNDL switch, 3 speed and 4 speed are different, so check that.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Rock auto seems to think it has two switches. I have the full GM service books for this exact car, I'll check which switch it references(there are two) for starting. Hopefully its the cheap little one in the shifter and not the actual $130 "PRNDL" range switch on the trans. Edit: I'm stupid, the one in the shifter is actually the solenoid keeping you in park. So go junkyard a PRNDL switch.

I get the sneaking suspicion it's the range one..... so yeah.

This would also explain the inability to shift out of park with the brake depressed, if the trans thinks its in reverse, it isn't going to be ready to release the solenoid.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: This would also explain the inability to shift out of park with the brake depressed, if the trans thinks its in reverse, it isn't going to be ready to release the solenoid.

And why using the emergency lockout release and putting it back in park, reset it as it were. I bet this is gonna be fun.

Looks pretty straightforward, remove the splash shield, unhook the cable, remove the lock nuts on the shaft, two bolts, unplug it, slide it off.