Gear shifter idiosyncrasies.

[Bird Man of AZ]

My '68 Plymouth Belvedere's auto-tranny has two issues and I'm wondering if they're related.

The reverse/back-up light doesn't work at all when the shift lever (on the tree) is put in Reverse.

And, sometimes the car will not start when in Park, so it's necessary to put the shift lever in Neutral in order to start it.

Any chance that these two problems are related within the shifter lever? If so, what do I need to do to address these issues either collectively or individually??

 

[64fury74charger]

Sounds like there’s some issues with the neutral safety switch which also operates the reverse lights when in reverse and the wiring.

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

X2 but maybe linkage has some slop and needs adjusting but leaning toward neutral safety switch as mentioned above

 

[YY1]

The orientation of the steering column in it's mount to the dash can also affect this if it's a column shift car.

 

[wagonman]

All good ideas and anything you can do to tighten up the linkage will help. Had the same issue with mine and had to get creative with the 50 year old sloppy linkage. One idea is to **** can the switch on the column and run a 3 prong sw on the trans that takes care of the NSS and BU lites at the same time. That is assuming the comb in the trans is not FUBAR. Not likely though but forewarned is well you know.

 

[66Satellite47]

Sure sounds like a simple linkage adjustment issue.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

68 back up light switch isn't part of the NSS.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

All good ideas and anything you can do to tighten up the linkage will help. Had the same issue with mine and had to get creative with the 50 year old sloppy linkage. One idea is to **** can the switch on the column and run a 3 prong sw on the trans that takes care of the NSS and BU lites at the same time. That is assuming the comb in the trans is not FUBAR. Not likely though but forewarned is well you know.

Sorry, not that easy, a 68 trans doesn't have a comb..

 

[turbine68rt]

Sorry, not that easy, a 68 trans doesn't have a comb..

Was wagonman referring to a rooster comb?

 

[Bird Man of AZ]

Since I'm no expert on shifting linkages, where exactly is the adjustment for it?

 

[69Bee]

68 back up light switch isn't part of the NSS.

It is located on the steering column IIRC...

 

[1 Wild R/T]

It is located on the steering column IIRC...

It is if it's column shift... If it's floor shift.......