HELP - Stranded, won't start (1 Viewer)

[seeylater]

I let by brother borrow the LC 80 while he's in town so he doesn't have to rent a vehicle. My LC 80 has never once given me any issues to date.

He just called me saying he ran into Target to grab something and when he got back in the car, the engine started fine, but the shifter was stuck in Park and would not budge. So he turned off the engine, and now it won't start. The battery is fine because the windows go up and down, but it won't even crank over. Also, now the shifter works fine and moves back and forth with key in the On position.

Before I spend $150 to get it towed back to my house, does anyone have any suggestions?

I would normally say it's the starter, but the shifter stuck in P doesn't make sense.

 

[LockedCollector]

Does it have an alarm or any sort of anti-theft system that needs to be reset?

 

[Malleus]

My bet is that the shifter isn't really in Park and the neutral safety switch is preventing it from starting. The fact that he said it was stuck in Park leads me to believe the linkage is fouled. Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure is to get under it and look at the connection on the left side of the xmsn. If nothing looks loose, the problem may be inside the cover.

You could try to release the shift lever, by removing the cover at the front left of the shift console and depressing the lock with a screwdriver (it's directly below the access hole). This will allow you to shift the xmsn to neutral, which may get it started, if this is the problem.

The real problem in mind my is driving it while the shift linkage is fouled. That's a real problem that needs to be fixed.

 

[CJF]

You could try to release the shift lever, by removing the cover at the front left of the shift console and depressing the lock with a screwdriver (it's directly below the access hole). This will allow you to shift the xmsn to neutral, which may get it started, if this is the problem.

Good thought.

Also, it may be that the NSS (neutral safety switch) is simply shot. In which case a jumper wire from the battery to the starter should start the rig. <--- (Someone check my thinking on that please.)

 

[seeylater]

Thanks for quick replies. I'm just getting it towed right now and will mess with it tonight or tomorrow. Found a $75 tow.

There is no alarm, I ripped it out last year and soldered the ignitions wires back together.

Shift linkage and neutral safety switch makes sense, I'll check those out first.

 

[ppc]

Always check the simple things first.
Check the fuses.
If the brake light or taillight fuse is bad then the shift interlock solenoid wont operate to allow shifting out of park. That interlock can be overridden as stated above by popping out the plastic plug by the shifter and poke a key, screwdriver or similar to manually release the interlock and shift into neutral to attempt to start.

 

[zapatius]

Check the fuses. I had a bad trailer wiring situation that blew my tail light fuse. That also caused the transmission to be stuck in Park.

 

[seeylater]

UPDATE: My brother is an idiot, it was just a dead battery.

Once I had it towed back home, I put a jump pack on it and it fired right up. However, as I was driving it around I noticed the voltage was dropping to 10.5v at idle and would read about 12v under load. I wasn't sure if that meant an alternator issue or battery, so I replaced the battery with a new one from Advance Auto ($179) and so far it seems fine. My OBD2 gauge reads 12.9v at idle and about 13.8v under load now.

I'll keep an eye on the voltage to make sure the alternator isn't going bad, since it's seems about 0.5v low to me.

 

[Road Apple]

Glad you found the problem. I’ve had my truck suddenly not starting because the fusible link was partially burned through. I keep one in the truck now just incase.