Hello,
I need some help. My grandmother has a 2006 Montana SV6.
This is a second car for her and she left it sit outside for the winter. She asked me to get it started and put some tires on it for her.
I had to jump the battery the first time I started it and it was obvious the battery was bad because it wouldn't charge. The van started up fine and ran fine so I put new tires on it for her and put it in the garage and asked my uncle to get a battery for her.
I got a call from my cousin asking for help getting the van started after my uncle had put a new battery in it. He said when he would turn the key all the lights would go out but nothing would happen. I thought it was a bad connection or a bad battery so I told him I would deal with it.
I went over today to find that it doesn't seem to be a bad connection. The battery was pretty strong and I even put jumper cables to my truck to make sure it has enough power. Everything works like it should. Radio, lights, wipers, horn.
The van behaves like it should when you turn the key, but I get nothing. the dash lights go dim like power is being put to the starter but nothing happens. I can hear a faint click sound in the fuse box under the hood. Nothing at the solenoid. I put the key to the run position and jump the solenoid with a screw driver and the starter will spin, but not engage the engine.
I also noticed that the orange gear selector indicator doesn't come on. So you can't tell what gear you are in. I put the van in what should be reverse and the white reverse lights don't come on. So I'm thinking the van doesn't know what gear it is in.
I've had this happen before on a ford and a nissan and it was the Neutral Safety switch. I looked on the top of the transmission where the gear selector shaft comes out where the other neutral safety switch was on the other cars I have worked on and its not there. I traced the cable from the fire wall all the way back to where it attaches to the shaft and I can't seem to find the switch anywhere. I thought maybe it was in the dash, but when I look under the steering column and follow the cable there I can't find a switch either.
I can see something that has a plug to it that is up in the steering column attached to the base of the gear selector, but I'm not sure what that is.
Anybody have any idea where this switch is? Am I just missing it somewhere? I can't find a video or parts diagram anywhere and when I look up the part online I get a bunch of different pictures of the part... having a hard time with this one!
Thanks for any help!
I need some help. My grandmother has a 2006 Montana SV6.
This is a second car for her and she left it sit outside for the winter. She asked me to get it started and put some tires on it for her.
I had to jump the battery the first time I started it and it was obvious the battery was bad because it wouldn't charge. The van started up fine and ran fine so I put new tires on it for her and put it in the garage and asked my uncle to get a battery for her.
I got a call from my cousin asking for help getting the van started after my uncle had put a new battery in it. He said when he would turn the key all the lights would go out but nothing would happen. I thought it was a bad connection or a bad battery so I told him I would deal with it.
I went over today to find that it doesn't seem to be a bad connection. The battery was pretty strong and I even put jumper cables to my truck to make sure it has enough power. Everything works like it should. Radio, lights, wipers, horn.
The van behaves like it should when you turn the key, but I get nothing. the dash lights go dim like power is being put to the starter but nothing happens. I can hear a faint click sound in the fuse box under the hood. Nothing at the solenoid. I put the key to the run position and jump the solenoid with a screw driver and the starter will spin, but not engage the engine.
I also noticed that the orange gear selector indicator doesn't come on. So you can't tell what gear you are in. I put the van in what should be reverse and the white reverse lights don't come on. So I'm thinking the van doesn't know what gear it is in.
I've had this happen before on a ford and a nissan and it was the Neutral Safety switch. I looked on the top of the transmission where the gear selector shaft comes out where the other neutral safety switch was on the other cars I have worked on and its not there. I traced the cable from the fire wall all the way back to where it attaches to the shaft and I can't seem to find the switch anywhere. I thought maybe it was in the dash, but when I look under the steering column and follow the cable there I can't find a switch either.
I can see something that has a plug to it that is up in the steering column attached to the base of the gear selector, but I'm not sure what that is.
Anybody have any idea where this switch is? Am I just missing it somewhere? I can't find a video or parts diagram anywhere and when I look up the part online I get a bunch of different pictures of the part... having a hard time with this one!
Thanks for any help!
