I’ve got a 97 Blazer Zr2. Had a problem where I put the car in park, shut it off, and then the car began to roll backwards as if it was in neutral. Then I couldn’t get the shifter to come out of park. After some fiddling i realized i could bypass the shift lock by pulling this little white disk thing out at the base of the shifter. Is this a problem with the shift interlock solenoid? or the neutral safety switch? The shifter also feels like it doesn’t really “click” into place when i move it into any position. But all the gears engage fine.

 

How far would it roll backwards? In the short term, could you use your parking brake to prevent the rolling? If you do that, maybe you will still be able to get it out of P.

 

It rolls as far as it can go, i though maybe it would hit the parking pawl and lock up but no dice.

 

Now the car has a no crank no start in any shifter position.

Edit: Got the car to start in reverse, but no matter what position the shifter is in the car stays in drive. could this be the shifter cable?

Ok so now neutral is drive, reverse is neutral, and neutral is between park and reverse. wtf

I’m wondering if maybe the neutral safety switch is all out of wack?

I’m not sure if it’s the cable because sometimes the shifter positions are right and sometimes they arent

 

I've never had this problem, perhaps someone who has can chime in. But I think you are likely correct that the shifter cable should be looked at.

 

There is a switch on the side of the transmission that gives the INDICATION of what gear you are in. The cable may also be an issue - but you might have the position switch giving you incorrect indications - since the indication was that you were in reverse, but the ZR started - you might not have been in reverse. I'd look at both the cable and switch.

 

Would that be the neutral safety switch?

Also the problem seems to have fixed itself so it may be intermittent

 

Shift shaft position switch? "Manual Lever Position Switch"? I see it called different things in different places. Some call it a PRNDL switch. Not sure if it's ok to post a link to specific website - but a search for PRNDL switch will get a lot of hits.