So I figured this one out with lots of reading and testing. This is my son's
girlfriend's car and she doesn't have a lot of extra money so I was
thrown into this without actually knowing all that went bad. I was just told
"it won't start and ran really bad and lots of stuff stopped working before I
shut it off and it won't start".
This ended up being a two part problem. A bad ground wire off the
battery to the engine and a neutral safety switch also known as
transmission range sensor.
I almost deleted my question. But wanted to mention a couple of things
that I hoped someone could help clear up. We thought this was the
neutral safety switch alone. But when we changed it, it the car still
wouldn't start. There are two cables connected to the negative terminal
one going to the chassis and the other was tucked around and under the
battery platform not connected to anything. Doesn't look like it has ever
been connected to anything,but it is now it is. Makes me think I lost a
ground somewhere else. The reason we feel it was also the neutral
safety switch is that things that didn't work and lights that wouldn't go off
since months ago are functioning correctly now. Post some links or sites
that help in tracking electrical issues. Hope this helps someone else!
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