pwilluttley Posted December 2, 2006 Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 My 91 4.9L seville has had a few issues, one of them being a faulty neutral safety switch. I ordered a brand new switch and replaced it a few weeks ago. After replacing it, I've noticed that the console gear shifter is not functioning correctly. For example, normally when I would start the engine I would have to depress the brake pedal, then hold in the thumb button on the side of the gear shift lever in order to shift into reverse. Now, when I start the car the gear shifter will move into reverse - or any gear for that matter without pressing the brake pedal. Also, every once in a while I will get an error code for the neutral safety switch. When this happens all of the LED boxes around the PRNDL positions are illuminated on the dash - not just one of them at a time, but all of them regardless of where I have the gear shifter positioned. Installing the neutral safety switch is pretty straight forward, but am I missing something? I'm sure it's working and is ajusted okay because the engine always cranks. Is there some sort of other device on the brake pedal or somewhere that is used to prevent the gear shifter from being moved into gear without first pressing the brake pedal? Could this be producing my intermittent E091 safety switch error? Also, besides the electrical connectors on the neutral safety switch - what is the small rubber hose connection use for? I connected it, but am curious about it's function. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted December 2, 2006 Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 Check out the brake switch by the pedal. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted December 2, 2006 Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 Since your problems began after replacing the neutral safety switch, I would guess that the new switch needs to be adjusted. The neutral safety switch also provides the input for the gear selector indicator. Someone with a '91 shop manual should chime in with the adjustment procedure. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted December 2, 2006 Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 Uttley, I can email the udjustmen procedure if you provide with your email address. The file is too big. Both the swithch and the linkage to it may need adjustment. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwilluttley Posted December 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 Uttley, I can email the udjustmen procedure if you provide with your email address. The file is too big. Both the swithch and the linkage to it may need adjustment. Excellent - My e-mail address is: pwilluttley@yahoo.com I really appreciate it. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted December 3, 2006 Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 Uttley, I can email the udjustmen procedure if you provide with your email address. The file is too big. Both the swithch and the linkage to it may need adjustment. Excellent - My e-mail address is: pwilluttley@yahoo.com I really appreciate it. Thanks again. Sent. You are welcome. Let us know. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobnsue2 Posted December 4, 2006 Report Share Posted December 4, 2006 Hi, Are you really talking about a 91? Or confusing thoughts with a newer one? We have a 91 STS for around 10 years and it has never locked in park as you describe. So I looked in the owners manual and no mention of the feature. My 97 GMC does lock in park until the key is on and you step on the brake. Bob B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwilluttley Posted December 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Hi, Are you really talking about a 91? Or confusing thoughts with a newer one? We have a 91 STS for around 10 years and it has never locked in park as you describe. So I looked in the owners manual and no mention of the feature. My 97 GMC does lock in park until the key is on and you step on the brake. Bob B Bob - I'm not sure I understand your reply, but here's the short end of it. Yes, I have a 91 Seville. Normally when I start the engine, I had to step on the brake before I could move the shift lever out of park into gear. A few weeks back I had problems with the engine not starting intermittently - code was telling me that I had a bad neutral safety switch (E091). Funny though, the engine would crank, but not start. My research into the neutral safety switch pointed out that it prevented the engine from cranking when out of adjustment or defective. Anyway, I replaced the switch. But at times, I still have problems. I am almost positive that when the car was in good shape, I always had to press the brake pedal after I started the engine to engage the shift lever. If that is so, it's definitely not the case now - which makes me think it may be something else which is part of my problem causing the intermittent error which keeps the engine from starting. When I have the problem, I get a message on the DIC which says "gear select problem" and all of the LED boxes around the PRNDL indicators on the dash are illuminated. After a few minutes with key ON, the message on the DIC will disapper, the LED boxes around the PRNDL indicators return to normal and at that point I can start the engine. I'm starting to think it may be a grounding problem somewhere. If you have any ideas or tips, please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobnsue2 Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 A few weeks back I had problems with the engine not starting intermittently - code was telling me that I had a bad neutral safety switch (E091). Funny though, the engine would crank, but not start. My research into the neutral safety switch pointed out that it prevented the engine from cranking when out of adjustment or defective. Anyway, I replaced the switch. But at times, I still have problems. I am almost positive that when the car was in good shape, I always had to press the brake pedal after I started the engine to engage the shift lever. If that is so, it's definitely not the case now - which makes me think it may be something else which is part of my problem causing the intermittent error which keeps the engine from starting. When I have the problem, I get a message on the DIC which says "gear select problem" and all of the LED boxes around the PRNDL indicators on the dash are illuminated. After a few minutes with key ON, the message on the DIC will disapper, the LED boxes around the PRNDL indicators return to normal and at that point I can start the engine. I'm starting to think it may be a grounding problem somewhere. If you have any ideas or tips, please let me know. I've had some strange problems that didn't diagnose well at all, even by the very experienced mechanic at a dealership. It ended up being bad grounds. On the 91 there are a bunch of black wires going to studs on the body around the battery front and side, These are most of the system grounds. I ended up taking all the wires loose and cleaning the terminals with emory paper and contact cleaner. They looked fine before I cleaned them there was no corrosion, but cleaning them did the trick. Bob B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maximln Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 That is the way that the car is supposed to work. If you try to start it without stepping on the brake, it is not supposed to start and if I remember right, there is a red light above the steering wheel that is supposed to come on telling you to step on the brake. What happens I think over the years, that neutral safety switch gets out of adjustment and that is why the car starts. Max Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwilluttley Posted December 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 That is the way that the car is supposed to work. If you try to start it without stepping on the brake, it is not supposed to start and if I remember right, there is a red light above the steering wheel that is supposed to come on telling you to step on the brake. What happens I think over the years, that neutral safety switch gets out of adjustment and that is why the car starts. Max Max - thanks. I've owned the car for four years, and I don't ever remember a RED light on the dash telling me this. I have a 1991 seville service manual on order so I'm hoping I'll find some information on what might be wrong. I'm hoping to get it fixed because I am needing to sell it. It's a cream puff car - only 77,000 miles and always garaged since brand new. The reason I starting to believe that it's an electrical grounding problem is because the intermittence of the problem. Sometimes it will start right up, other times it will only crank upon which I get the DIC message "gear select problem". So far, I haven't been able to find anyone who can tell me exactly what this DIC message means. That's why I picked up a service manual on Ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 You should be able to start the car without stepping on the brake - you are not supposed to be able to shift out of park without stepping on the brake. If there is a gear select problem it could create a "no start" condition because the PCM may be receiving input that the gear select lever is not in park/neutral. I still think the switch needs to be adjusted and the problem will be fixed. Once you have the service manual, it should be straightforward. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.