My truck wont start in park. Its not as simple as it sounds. The starter, battery, and all wires are new. The netral safety is bypassed. when the truck is in park it sounds like the starter is dragging or the battery is dead. If i put it in neutral it will fire right up.What could be causing this. We have manually pushed the linkage to make sure it is all the way in park. It is a 700 r4 trans with a shift kit behind a 350. Any ideas??

 

Still sounds like some electrical issue though I cant imagine what if the neutral switch is bypassed it should start in any gear and mechanically other than the park paw being engaged neutral and park and pretty much the same and I cant imagine anything trans wise that would affect it. You right from your description if not a simple problem , Have you done a comparison fron the battery to the tarter for actual voltage diferential with the car in both positions?

 

i will have to check the voltages tonight. I have also went straight to the starter with a screw driver and jumped it at the solenoid and get the exact same thing.

This has stumped everyone i know. WTF would cause it to bind in park. Every now and then it will start in park, either way once it is running you can go through the gears and put it back in park and everything seems normal until you shut it off and try and start it again.

 

Definatly a strange problem , agreed

 

Any other ideas, im running out of things to check.

 

this may sound stupid or not. disconnect converter from flywheel and push converter back and start truck in park see if ok.you will eliminate trans from problem all together.if not dragging at all than you got a low/reverse problem cause those clutches come on when started or pressure to make a smooth engagement to forward or reverse.also without looking back what year cause early years like 92-94 i think the reverse piston isnt cut right. causing piston to hit parking pawl and bind up.(got info at work tho sorry)im a tranny rebuilder but cant remember all bullitens lol. the sponsors here may remember the early ones with reverse piston problems.

 

That is the closest thing i have found to a possibility so far.If that is the issue would that be the reason that once it is running you can put it in park and everything seems normal.