The car is a 2002 Buick LeSabre with 233,000+ miles on it. A few weeks ago my son tried to borrow it from my wife and discovered it wouldn't crank. Everything else works.

We tested the starter and it's good.
We put a new battery in it.
We replaced the ignition switch (not the lock cylinder)

I noticed that the gear selector light doesn't work. On this car, the letter indicating which gear you shifted into would be highlighted by an orange light. That light is not coming on now. I suspect the neutral safety switch has gone bad, because the car is acting like the computer thinks it's in gear.

On this car the switch is INSIDE the transmission instead of on top of it.

What do you think?



My son wants the car to use while he finishes A & P school because it's in better shape than his 2002 Grand Prix and because the Buick has leather interior and a nice sound system.

Sounds exactly right. I don't think you can bypass it either.

I had to search for this but this is from another forum:

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 03-23-2022).]

From what I've seen on the internet, the problem is either the neutral safety switch or the computer.

My son seems to be itching to try a project like this so maybe we should just jump into it.