99 Sunfire won't start

[cl3an]

Hello everyone,

So here is the issue. My mom has a 99 Sunfire GT and she was shopping and when she went out to her car it wouldn't start. So she called me and I headed down there to figure out what the issue was. It's not the battery, pretty confident it's not the starter, don't think it's an anti-theft issue. When I try to start it it doesn't make a sound, nothing. Something I did notice that was peculiar was that her shift indicator showed the car was in Drive 2 when it was most certainly in park. I asked my mother if that had always been broken and she said not, its usually worked. Now obviously a car wont start if its not in Park but the car was in park, but the indicator thinks its in Drive 2. Could this be the issue? Does the car think the tranny is in drive? In there anyway to verify this and fix it?

I would appreciate any input.

Thanks,
cl3an

 

[melsg5]

Sounds like you have a shift linkage issue and the car may actually be in gear preventing it from starting. How did you check the battery, with a voltmeter?

 

[cl3an]

Thanks for the reply
Well the reason I know its not the battery is that I tried jumping it and it just doesn't even try to start. As for the car being in gear, the shifter still works. I put it in neutral to push it and then into park to park it after moving it.

 

[melsg5]

did you check the tightness of the battery connections at the battery the ground and the starter? did you test the battery with a voltmeter and got at least 12 volts?

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[cl3an]

I did everything but checked the voltage, I suppose I will try that. However I don't think its the battery.

 

[melsg5]

Check the voltage at the battery and also the starter. Have you checked all fuses in both boxes?