to Start sometimes have to "tap" shifter

['97 i30 rookie]

I've researched prior posts but haven't noticed any with this type of problem.

For the past year, every 1 in 20 starts on my '97 I30, the ignition would not turn over (dash lights appear but dead silence, no clicking, anything). If I would lightly tap the shifter the car would then start. For the past month, this procedure has become more frequent. 3 nights ago I tapped/hit/ran shifter thru park, neutral, drive, etc. and the car just would not start. The next morning, tried the same thing but added 'turning the wheel'. The car finally started.

Auto parts guy thought it could be the Neutral Safety Switch. Nobody in my small town wanted to touch it. Drove 90 miles to Infiniti dealership in Indianapolis. Their 10-year tech said he has never had to replace the Neutral Safety Switch. He replaced the Starter. Got home last night, had to park on very small incline, so I pulled up emergency brake. 5 minutes later had to go somewhere, tried to start but same thing happened. I released the emergency brake, car slightly moved, turned the key and car started. What's going on?

Need some expert advice. THANKS
Modified by '97 i30 rookie at 11:25 AM 6/9/2005

[DAEDALUS]

I'm inclined to agree with the auto parts guy. I'd also be pretty sore with that Infiniti Dealership. Never heard of anyone replacing it either though. Hopefully it's something easy, like removing the trim around the shifter.

['97 i30 rookie]

Is there any instrument that the dealership could have used to 'test' the operational status of the Neutral Safety Switch?

[DAEDALUS]

I don't know, but I have played with a few scanners at school, and all of them had a PNSW flag that would tell you if the vehicle was in Park or Neutral. The dealership has their own Infiniti-specific Consult scanner, but I would be surprised if it didn't have the same flag, especially for OBDII cars.However, for this to be of any help, the car would have to be acting up at the time the Consult was hooked up.

[Q451990]

Sounds like a classic case of the tech. not listening to the complaint! Also. making the assumption that since they have never replaced a part before, all of them are failure-proof! In all fairness though - it is an intermittant problem - which are very difficult to diagnose. Still... the typical bad starter cures are rocking the car or tapping the starter housing with a hammer - not the shifter.

My mom's old 1988 Maxima had the same issue... I adjusted the transmission linkage once and that cured it for a while.

I agree that it's probably related to your neutral/park switch. I suspect that if you raise enough hell you can get your money back for the starter... or at least a free neutral/park switch installed.

Good diagnostics are not done with throwing parts at a car... and that's what you were trying to get by going to the dealership.

Heath

['97 i30 rookie]

Now the tech at the dealership feels "99% sure" that the problem is related to the Ignition Switch. Originally, the dealership said they needed to replace both the Starter and the Ignition Switch - and I verbally okayed both. But then the tech only replaced the Starter (I think the service guy was trying to help lessen the amount of money that was about to flow out of my wallet).

On Friday, I faxed this NICO posting to the dealership stating that "we" needed to resolve this problem. The service guy called me and apologized and that's when he said that the tech felt 99% sure that it was the Ignition Switch (yet still they didn't feel it was the Neutral Safety Switch). He said they would pickup the car and install the Ignition Switch - I only have to pay for the $48 part, no labor charged. The service guy said that if that didn't fix it, he would THEN replace the Neutral Safety Switch at no cost or labor to me. I told him to fax that agreement to me. I haven't yet received the fax and they're suppose to pickup the car on Thursday.

I am really, really hesitant about having them take my car without having that faxed agreement in my hands. The saga continues......

[DominickJ30]

Is there any instrument that the dealership could have used to 'test' the operational status of the Neutral Safety Switch?

Yes at the dealer its called CONSULT. You can also check it from any automotive scan tool. Good luck

[lglusco]

My 1994 240sx does the same thing. Just started happening about a month ago. I tried to start the car and got nothing. Seemed the battery was dead because I couldn't get windows down or anything else elec. ... and then the key got stuck in the ignition.

Tried to jump start it and still had nothing. (I think at that point I was able to get the key out, if I'm remembering right.) Basically out of desperation I shifted into neutral and tried it again. Fired right up. Since then I've been starting the car in Neutral. In Neutral, it starts every time.

Now that I read your post I just went out and tried it in Park. I nudged the shifter gently and it started right up.

I'm inclined to live with this quirk. Anyone think I need to worry about it going completely bad if I leave it as is?

[gniknave]

My old 99 I30 did the same thing. It's sad that I work for the company that looked at your car (I work at the south store, not north) and I have to say that there's an easy way to tell if it's the ignition switch. If go to start the car, but the key doesn't start the car right away when it's in position, then that may be a case of a bad ignition switch. However, when I had the problem you had in your I30, it was the neutral switch. He's right however, it is EXTREMELY rare for a neutral switch to go bad in a Maxima or an I30. One thing to not rule out would be the brake lamp switch. However usually when that goes bad, you can start the car, you just can't move the shifter without tampering with the shift lock buttin.

BTW, don't show the Infiniti tech this part of the post please!

[Skibane]

Why not just jumper the neutral safety switch for a while, and see if the problem goes away?