So I put the car in drive the other day, and the plastic surround with all the bristles falls in to the shift tower. When I get home I put it into park with some serious crunching. Get the not in park dingy and can't remoe key. It's late and I leave it. This past weekend I took it all apart and cleaned out the bits. Now the shift lever rests forward of the shift lock solenoid. Requires ALOT of fidling to get the car to start and turn off and shut up.
My question is
Does the "dust cover" (what is it called, and does anyone have a part number?)actually hold the shift lever in the correct position, or did something else get messed up?
Can the shift lock solenoid be bypassed, or will that make it a safety hazard?
Thank you for your time.
Brian

 

bump?

 

You need a new J gate as probably the micro-switches inside yours may be broken by the falling part mixed by the shifter. Put a picture if possible to see it.

 

Here is some info that might help.

bob gauff

 

sorry for the delay, car has been sitting as I have been swamped.
So I need an entire J-Gate to fix this?

 

Where is the rotating disc with the brushes? and did your micro-switches have some little arms, like a piece of thin tin blade, that is pressed by the shifter and then it press the little button? The rotating disc is pressing also a switch.
If it looked like this, as it's in the picture, somebody deleted some parts of your J gate and possible the switches are out of their mind.
Try to find an ebay replacement.

 

missing micro switch's metal tab on top right of J

 

Thanks everyone, got a replacement j-gate from the classifieds here. I could then see what was missing and got it all sorted.