Symptoms of my car not starting...

[WetWilly80]

Hey I'd appreciate any suggestions and explanations for what may be going on with my '94 auto transmission Camry.

My car often won't start. The headlights turn on and I have power inside the vehicle, but when I turn the key the clock dims to black. There are about 5 clicks each time it doesn't start, which makes me think the starter is fine. This has been happening for months but very infrequently until it got really cold a few weeks ago.

The key symptom I noticed this last time was that the interior display does not light up with the gear position. The gear shifter goes P-R-N-D-3-2. First I pulled back on the shifter when the car was in 2. The gear light glowed on the dashboard. Then I moved up each gear until I got to neutral. When I applied pressure to the shifter (towards the trunk) the gear light glowed and I could start the car in neutral.

As I progress to Park, it takes more downward pull to get the gear to light on the dashboard. When in Park I cannot start the car because the gear lights only as I begin to shift to neutral.

Thoughts??? Is this a switch, a loose cable, or my whole stinkin transmission system? The gears don't slip when driving...

Thanks.

HK

[LynchburgCSI]

Neutral safety switch sounds messed up. Do a search... the topic has been covered before. If needed, I believe Mr. Perkins did a DIY on repair as well.

[LittleWhiteBubble]

If the switch was messed up the starter wouldnt click. Sounds like just a bad battery to me. Even if the battery tests good it can have a bad cell, and the cold will effect it more. The light in the dash is just tempermental sometimes because the contacts in the shifter get dirty. Mine rarely lights up.

[Mister_Perkins]

Since your gear indicators are not lighting up, I would suspect faulty NSS Contacts.

Try this link:
DIY: Neutral Safety Switch Cleaning