1966 valiant ignition problem
i just went out and put the car in reverse and tried starting it by jumping the solenoid. it started cranking while in gear. this is leading me to believe that the neutral safety switch is bad. .
No. When you jumper the relay, that takes the NSS out of the circuit
The auto trans starter relays have 4 terminals
the great bit stud is used as a junction and is one relay contact
The "square" screw is the "switched" contact and goes to the starter solenoid. So if you jumper the stud and the "square" screw, the relay is completely out of the circuit.
The other two "push on" quick connect terminals are the relay COIL. One gets starting signal from the key, and the other grounds the relay through the NSS when in park or neutral. There's a wire goes from one of the two quick connect terminals, down the firewall, to the NSS
If you are jumpering across the two large terminals, it could be
no start signal getting through bulkhead from key, or bad ignition switch or connector
Could be a bad connection in the NSS wire, bad NSS, or misadjusted trans linkage
Could be a bad starter relay
To start testing, IDENTIFY the NSS wire, unhook it, and hook a clip lead to that terminal of the relay, and clip to ground. BE CAREFUL!!!! It will start in any gear. See if the ignition switch now reliable actuates the relay
