my new 89 240sx auto wont start, lots of details and a pic please help

[sawwaveanalog]

hi everyone.. i am from the world of turbo dodges and know absolutely nothing about 240's other than they look cool and are rwd.. my friend offered to give me one for free since he has too many cars so i took him up on it. its a pretty straight and clean car, not too much rust, and it runs like new.. its a lot of fun to drive.

anyway, i picked it up last night with no issue, had to jump start it since it had been sitting for a while, but it ran all the way home, 45 miles or so, without any issue.. and the transmission seemed to be shifting just fine in drive. the car has no reverse or neutral, park works, but N and R function as D, while 2 and 1 both work normally. i figured i would pull the valve body and clean everything out in there and that would solve the problem since it shifts fine otherwise.

this morning i wake up, and go take it for a drive. i ended up taking it into a parkinglot and doing 5 minutes worth of donuts with the stick in second gear haha.. well, when i went to leave the stick wouldnt come out of second so i just drove slow to 7-11 to get something to drink and try to get the stick back up to D. well, i had to kind of force it, but the stick went back up and is functioning normally again.. then when i went to start it...... nothing... the interior lights all act like they should when its cranking, but there is no crank, no sound from the starter, absolutely nothing. like the power line fell off it or something. (it didnt)

now i will list everything i have tried. i know a local guy that is into 240s and talked to him a bit but i am basically clueless about these cars as of right now.

the ignition switch seems to be fully functional. each position does what it should, but when the final engine start position is reached, the starter does not react. there is no sound of strain, no relay clicking under the hood, nothing... but, the interior lights dim and the hvac stuff shuts itself off like it normally would, so i know the switch is working correctly.

my friend nick suggested that i bypass the neutral safety switch in case it had gotten stuck.. so i did what i believe is the correct procedure for that.. theres a grey plug coming out from under the fusebox, it had 3 wires coming out- white, black, and black with white dots. i spliced the black and the white wires together on the connector side, left the third black with white dot wire connected as stock, and just left the 2 fusebox side wires hanging there.

still no start.

there is 12v at the starter, and the little ground wire or whatever it is that has the black connector clip on it is intact as well. .. i dont see how a starter would just instantly die like that, it had been fine the whole time the car has been around.. so i am leaning towards some kind of electrical issue

there IS 12v on the main power line at the starter.. so what could be causing this? there is no response whatsoever when the key is turned from the starter solenoid, and since that 12v is constantly there, there must be another way the thing is activated..

the car is sitting at a convenience store and its 33 degrees and sleeting.. but i need to get it back home so i can go through it.. and so it doesnt get towed.

any help at all will be much much much appreciated.. its a fun car to drive and clean too, i want to make a dd out of it.. hopefully soon i can

oh yea, in case it matters-

the car will not roll in park, but it will roll as if it were in neutral while in any of the drive or reverse gears. i am used to manual trannies so im not sure if thats normal or a sign of something or what.

thanks a million guys

[sawwaveanalog]

ok, update, i got the car started and drove it home. ended up running power directly from the battery to the starter plug and it fired right up.

this leads me to believe that the switch in the shifter or wherever it is is messed up...

so, can anyone tell me either 1- how can i just bypass the neutral safety switch.. or better yet 2- where is thw switch ocated and what should i do to repair it?

its still raining and im not going to be able to go take a look at it until tomorrow so any advice you guys have to give will be much appriciated