Faulty NSS or something else?

[Judhudson]

I hate troubleshooting electrical problems...

Took our car out for a drive.  Gauges seemed fine.  Brought it home, parked it for an hour then went out to move the car.  When I tried to start the car, I get nothing... no crank, no starting, just my alternator gauge going all the way to the D.

So, I guess I have an electrical problem!  Testing the battery, I noticed a very small draw of .7.  It'd stay for 2 seconds then suddenly drop.  I take my leads off and wait a minute.  Test it again and it is .7 and drops.  Not sure what that is or if that is even relating to the problem.

So after some testing, I change the Starter Relay, tested starter, and started unhooking and testing various electrical parts.  Well, after I tested most of them, I jumped on here to do a search for my problem.  After searching, it seems this is often caused by the Neutral Safety Switch.  I already replaced mine about 8 months ago...but the more I read, the more I was led to believe mine crapped out. 

So I took Nacho's advice in another thread and grounded the brown wire on my starter relay to the chassis.  Low and behold, it now cranks.  I guess this means I am not getting a good ground, right?  Does this mean my NSS has crapped out and needs to be replaced again?

[y3chargerrt]

What condition is the battery in? Put a volt meter on the battery when you try to crank it.

[John_Kunkel]

If it cranks with the "G" terminal on the relay grounded the problem is the NSS or the shift linkage. Did you try it in both Park and Neutral?

Misadjusted shift linkage or worn/missing parts in the shift linkage will prevent it from going into gear correctly.

[Judhudson]

Yep, I tried it in all gears, nothing!  I have a feeling it is the NSS...I bought one from the dodge dealer so hopefully it will solve the problem when I get to it this weekend.  I think that is it, as I replaced it with a GP Sorenson NSS and I have been having faulty issues with a ton of GP Sorenson parts...I now stay away from them!

[Nacho-RT74]

So I took Nacho's advice in another thread and grounded the brown wire on my starter relay to the chassis. Low and behold, it now cranks. I guess this means I am not getting a good ground, right? Does this mean my NSS has crapped out and needs to be replaced again?

not the wire... THE PRONG at relay where the brown wire plugs on!

THAT KIND OF PROBLEMS are commonly associated also to a worn terminals on bulkhead... check you are getting 12 volts at yellow wire when starting on ign.

does the car crank when Jump the big stud at relay and the SOL terminal just below the stud ?

[Judhudson]

It turns out it was a bad neutral safety switch after all.  Tested it and it failed...Bought a new one, screwed it in and adjusted it - cranked right up. 


Nacho, sorry, I meant to say the prong on the starter relay.  I did ground that prong, just typed it wrong.  My bad.