ok first this is NOT my car.

A friend of mine is looking to buy an 89 Camaro from a guy he works with, but it has a few problems.
the one that concerns him the most is the car will not start in park(700-R4 we are assuming since its an auto).
to start it you have to turn the key to the on position then put the trany in neutral. once the trany is in neutral you have to turn the key to start the car, and bump the gear selector up twords reverse at the same time.

what would cause this? he wants me to go look at the car on sunday, and Id like to know if there is something we can try wile looking at it to try and get it to start correctly.

 

Either the park/neutral switch is out of adjustment or the switch is bad. The switch is located in the center console and mounted on the shifter assembly. The engine is only supposed (if everything else is working properly) to start with the shifter in the park or neutral position. Something else you might try is to pop the hatch with the hatch release while the shifter is in park. Hatch release switch has a safety feature where it will only work with gear in park or neutral.

The Trickster!!!!!!!!

 

trickster hit it dead on. the switch is called the park/neutral/reverse safety swith(wont allow the car to start in anything but park and neutral and turns the reverse lights on). its a 20 buck part.

 

Thanx for the replys. :hail:
it helps alot since Im trying to figure out if this car is a loss, or with a little work be an ok daily driver.

 

Id leave it, great security system

 

True, good anti-theft, but what about accidentally starting it and it happens to have reverse engaged? CRUNCH. "Oh dude, I just, like, smashed a hole in my garage door! AGAIN!"

 

Your supposed to have your foot on the break when you start the car anyway, did't you pay attention in drivers ed

 

Oh yeah, Doh!