I have been having an intermittent problem where the car cranks but won't start in park. If I shift to neutral, it will start no problem.

I have bench-checked the brake switch and both switches seem to be working as measured on the connector.

Interestingly, when the brake switch was completely disconnected (while I was debugging) the car would start no problem in park, but wouldn't let me shift out of park.

Curious if anyone has seen this before or knows what the issue might be?

 

Sounds like a little metal lever dropped off the “in park” microswitch inside the J gate or it just went bad.

 

Would you (anyone) know how I might fix this? Can it be done relatively easily?

 

When you turn the key to position 1, is the “P” lit up on the J gate? What about in the “N” position? If you were to gently but firmly push the shift lever over to the right when it’s in park, will it just crank but no start still?

 

I will check on that, but unfortunately (?) I'm no longer having the problem! It stopped suddenly about a day ago without explanation or reason. I'll report back once the problem recurs, which it no-doubt will at some point.