Starter turns when shifting from Park
 

Need some help to determine what is going on with the starter and my wiring. I have a brand new painless 18 circuit kit installed. I don't have the truck running yet, but I have it hooked up to starter, etc. When I turn the key to the 'on' position, I'm able to test lights, blinkers, air, etc without the truck actually running. However, when I shift the truck from park through reverse and neutral, it activates the starter briefly (auto on the column - van tilt column). I have a new neutral safety switch but suspect it may be the problem. I'm having a hard time figuring out how just moving the gear shift lever through the range of the neutral safety switch would activate the starter, but I'm definitely not a wiring expert. Currently, the column is not hooked up to the transmission. The rod is disconnected that goes to the trans. So its definitely related to something on or around the column. Anyone have any experience with a similar issue or have any thoughts to why power would be sent to the starter just by moving the shift lever through its range of motion? BTW, I did confirm I can turn the key all the way to start and it works as expected. If the column is down in drive position, the starter will not turn. If up in park, it will turn the motor over. Let me know if you need any additional details as well. Not sure what is relevant to my situation. Thanks!!!

Re: Starter turns when shifting from Park
 

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Sounds like you might have a wrong wire to the starting circuit. I guess the first thing I would do is to unplug the connector to the neutral safety switch and see what it does. I wouldn't necessarily blame the switch, I think it's a wiring issue.

LockDoc

Re: Starter turns when shifting from Park
 

If the backup light is hooked up its possible it is feeding to the starter circuit through a defective neutral switch.

Re: Starter turns when shifting from Park
 

Very interesting. I unplugged one of the backup light connections to the safety switch and now it doesn't try to turn over the starter. Plug it back in and then it tries to start the truck shifting past reverse. Argh. Brand new safety switch too. Guess I need to try another one?

Thanks for the tip, Wrenchbender Ret!

Re: Starter turns when shifting from Park
 

I'm glad I read this thread, as my truck has been known to occasionally do this very same thing. Sometimes when I would put my running truck up into park, you would hear the starter momentarily engage as the selector moved past reverse. I can understand how a faulty neutral safety switch would cause this problem.

Re: Starter turns when shifting from Park
 

Awesome. Glad you were able to learn something from this one too. No sense in reinventing the wheel! That's why I usually ask before getting too flustered over things like this. Gonna pick up another neutral safety switch over the next couple of days and see if that fixes the issue.