Thread: 98 oldsmobile doesnt start!

yea the shifter felt fine. prolly leaning towards the neutral safety switch. where's that located? got a schematic?

The neutral safety switch attaches to the top of the transmission. Follow the shifter cable to the trans, and where it attaches, that box looking thing is the neutral safety switch. Looks like
that in your mom's intrigue. It might be bad.

Or, I was thinking, the shifter cable could just need to be adjusted. I don't really have a good way to tell you to adjust it because I don't know what it is like. But I know on my GP, the shifter cable is in 2 sections. You can take it apart in the middle. I can't find a picture of the shifter (detent) cable for an Intrigue, so I don't know if it is the same or not. But on my GP, there is a clip holding the two together. I would just make sure the shifter is in park. Remove the clip that holds the two together. Reach my hand down, and make sure the transmission is in park. And then reinstall the clip without moving either cable. Again, not sure if this is the proper way to do it. But can't hurt to play around with it and see if it helps.

Again, I would drive it for a couple days and see if it acts up again. If so, then start looking.

Originally Posted by Toasty

are you talking about the two halves of the cable that join near the intake? yer not supposed to separate those and re-connect-- at least service manual says so. if the shifter cable is not in the right spot, i'd suspect that the car wouldnt start in neutral either, but maybe R and D instead. (offset by one spot)-- if the shifter cable is not adjusted properly, it will affect all gear positions...

it's likely the switch.

Yeah, you have a point about it being off a position. But...If the shifter cable isn't adjusted properly to the switch, then the transmission might still go into park, but the shifter would appear to be in reverse. So, put the shifter so it appears to be in drive, and the transmission would auctually be in neutral. And the car would start. Or, other way around. With the shifter appearing to be in park, the transmission is still in reverse. Put the shifter to reverse, and the transmission would be in neutral and the car will start.

Also, as far as the cables coming apart. I didn't read the service manual because I don't have one. But I took mine apart, replaced half of it, adjusted it like I said above, and it works fine. Maybe your aren't supposed to...but I did and it still works.

Originally Posted by Toasty

what you're explaining about the position and appearing to be in reverse, etc is exactly what im talking about. --- easily tested by trying to start the car in all positions (though the fact that the car starts while showing in N, says he cable position is OK.

as for separating the two parts, it was something about the connector not being able to stay together as well if re-connected... (i equate this kind of like a TTY bolt) hopefully you dont have any problems, since you replaced part of it.

Okay, good. We are on the same page.

And no, I haven't had any problem since I installed the cable.