Mercury Sable
Asked by debrahdo44 Feb 01, 2017 at 08:52 PM about the 1996 Mercury Sable LS Sedan FWD
Question type: General
My Mercury Sable is a 1996, has a new battery w/good charge, a new
alternator w/good charge, a new starter relay switch, and a new battery
cable. We have been driving it w/ no problem, then yesterday we could not
get it to start. A neighbor came over with cables and we tried three times with
no success. Then he got in the car and pushed the gear shift a bit and it
started right up. We drove to many stores going in and out. Tonight we went
to go out and it would not start. We tried pushing on the gear shift which we
had done before like my neighbor did and it would not start. It may have a
short but I' not sure. Does anyone have any suggestions please?
6 Answers
Sounds like a problem with the neutral safety switch, may need to be replaced or just adjusted.
debrahdo44 answered 7 years ago
Yes when my neighbor got in the car he said let me see if you have a neutral safety switch and before he could checked it he just pushed the gear handle a bit while it was in park and I did the same thing yesterday and it started right up but not today. So where exactly is this switch and is it hard to check and replace?
Not sure of the exact location, normally down on the trany by the shift linkage, and it is easy to replace.
Not positive on your's, but it could be built in with the switch mounted above the brake pedal and it acts as a safety lock out. When you start the car are you holding the brake pedal down? If you are, that switch has probably either worn out or has possibly come a little loose and moved out of position.
Did you try shifting to neutral to see if your car will start? If the brake lights don't work I would check the BOO switch first. If brake lights work I would check the brake pedal position switch
