Ray, I have a Mazda MPV (1993) that shifted into 2nd (maybe 3rd) on the freeway and stayed there. Now, the starter won't go, and the car will not go into any other gear beside whichever it is stuck in. (While the motor is OFF, the drive train is locked up as though the trans is in Park, but I can't tell if it really is in Park, or if there is a mechanical way for the trans to lock up even while the motor is not running.)
In any case, my gut instinct is that the Neutral Safety Switch is my problem, so I removed it and opened it up.
My question is, what is the complete role of the NSS? It has far too many contacts inside to simply control starting the motor in P or N.
STUFF I KNOW ... I THINK there is a sign of contact burning, or at least a very dirty contact, but the contact in question is not one of the P or N contacts. It looks to be one of the D contacts. I can clean the entire switch and refill it with dielectric grease, but frankly I am treading in unknown waters here. I don't see any opportunity for further damage that I can cause, but I want to know what other sorts of things the NSS does.
I'm sure there are internal problems that may exist, but my hope is that all of my troubles are in the NSS. The van has had trouble starting lately. When the key is turned, there is a click (a single click), but when the key is turned again and again, the starter normally fires very strongly. I don't have any worry about the battery -- the battery guy has tested it good -- and the starter works very strong when it works. I hadn't considered the NSS as the source of my starter troubles until the transmission quit working.
I was driving on the freeway at about 60ish, and when I accelerated to pass somebody, the trans downshifted out of OD. It occurred to me that the downshift was not needed at the time, and that it went a gear too far. I knew something was wrong though when it did not shift back up to OD when the pass was completed. The motor was only turning 3K at the speed I was going, and Red Line doesn't arrive until somewhere over 5k, so I continued to my destination. When I parked, I tested R, and it would not go there. So, I thought that the guy I was going to see at his office could help me push the van out of the space, and I could limp home. The car would not go backward -- it feels like the trans is wanting to move the car in a forward gear, I assume 2nd. I turned the motor off and tried to push the car backward, and it would not go -- the drive train hits a physical hard-stop as if it is in P. Now, when I try to start the car, the starter circuit -- the low current stuff inside the dash -- only clicks. The starter makes no effort to spin or fire the solenoid (which is why the NSS is on my bench right now).