Bad Neutral Safety Switch?

The NSS could be bad, but I suggest a linkage issue ahead of a bad switch.

The linkage actually selects the gear and aims the indicator at the correct position. I suggest parking your car in front a window or other highly reflective surface at a position where you can observe all of the lights in the reflection. Hit the brakes, try the turn indicators and the lights. This will tell you what is working on the back of the car and what is not.

Once you have operated the turn, stop, and tail lights, then select R and see if the back-up lights come on. I suspect they will not. Then, try moving the shift lever around (fore and aft) to see if the lights work in another position of the selector. This will confirm the linkage as a problem. Assuming the back-up lights come on, it will confirm the NSS is good.

I make it a habit, especially at night in an empty parking lot, of backing up to a window at ground level and checking my lights.

The fuse for the backup lights is the Gauge fuse in the fuse panel under the instrument panel. If the instrument panel lights work, then the gauge fuse is OK.

First thing to check is to see if there is power at the backup light bulb sockets. To do this, you will need a volt meter (get an inexpensive digital one at Radio Shack or your local hardware store for under $40) or a 12 volt test light. Set the parking brake, turn the ignition switch to the on position without starting the engine, and shift into reverse. Check to see if there is voltage at the bulbs with the test light or volt meter. If there is voltage, then the replacement bulbs you tried were the incorrect ones or they are bad. This is the most common reason that backup lights do not work.

If there is no voltage at the sockets, then the park/neutral position switch may be bad or the connection between the shift linkage and switch may be loose. This will also cause the indicator lights on the instrument panel to be incorrect. The switch is not under the center shift console, it is located on the transmission next to where the shift linkage enters the transmission case. Check to see that the lever on the switch moves with the shift linkage. Testing the switch itself will require a manual. I think there are 9 terminals, and you have to check continuity between various terminals.

What Ray said.

Caveat, if the shift indicator points to the wrong selection, then there may be issues relative to the linkage that affects the NSS position, and the back up lights may not work solely due to the switch being in the wrong spot. I suggested in another post that you back the car towards a window or similar reflective surface, then move the shift selector to see if the lights come on in the wrong postion of the selector.

I do not know what the linkage consists of, but to gain access to the NSS, one generally has to do it from underneath the car. There may be a linkage adjustment inside the center console, but I'd be looking for reasons the back up lights did not work before I set my sights on the gear selector indicator.

You should be able to gain access to the park/neutral position switch by removing the air cleaner assembly.

The switch mounts on the shaft coming out of the side of the transmission that controls gear selection. On the shaft is a groove that should be lined up with the neutral groove on the face of the switch when the shifter is in neutral and the parking brake is engaged. After the groove on the shaft is lined up with the line on the switch, install the shift arm and locknut and re-attach the shift cable. Check to make sure that the starter only engages in park and neutral.

Check Autozone's free repair guide, see "Adjustment" section. If you shift into N and the switch isn't, then adjust the linkage cable. Make sure the parking brake is securely applied and all safety precautions taken. (The A140E is the same transmission:)

Well, if he shifts into N and the D light comes on, I'd check linkage cable first.

The shift cable connects to an arm which is connected to a rod which rotates as the cable moves. The rotating rod passes through the park/neutral switch and enters the transmission. If the linkage cable was out of adjustment, then shifting into N would select the wrong range in addition to indicating the wrong range on the instrument cluster indicator. Since the OP did not mention that the shifter was not selecting the incorrect range, I thought it would be more likely that the switch and not the shift cable is out of adjustment or bad.

The car is selecting the wrong range. When the selected range is D, the actual selection is N, or some variation on that. He clearly stated that the shift lever was pointing at the wrong selection. This is precisely why I suggested he back his car towards a window and move the shift selector fore and aft to see if the back-up lights come on at an unexpected position of the selector.

My point is that it seems to me that the OP doesn't really know what is wrong, and I need a couple of tests done to help dial in on the problem.

PS The OP could have a friend or spouse stand at the back of the car, but I find this gives unreliable results. I prefer to use the reflection in a window than rely on somebody with a confused idea of what they are doing back there.

I didn't save the original post, but from what I read, when the shifter is not selecting the wrong range. The symptoms that I recall were that the backup lights do not work and that the wrong range is indicated on the instrument panel indicator. Besides the shift lever and the markings on the console next to the shift lever, there is another indicator in the instrument cluster, and I thought that the instrument cluster indicator is wrong. But when he selected D, he got D.

Talal said: "For example, when the car is in neutral, the drive light comes on."

I think Jeff is right in saying that "The NSS could be bad, but I suggest a linkage issue ahead of a bad switch." Now where is Talal?

I get it.

The OP said that N is indicated with D selected, but I did not pick up on the part about having the gear selection shown in two places, or which place the wrong indicatin is shown.

Combining the wrong indicatiion with the refusal of the back up lights to come on when R is selected, I need to know if the back up lights come on when something else is selected. I also need to know if the indication changes if the selector is moved full scale to L, then moved back to the desired gear.

In any case, to gain access to the NSS, one has to crawl under the car and take at least a small portion of the linkage off. It would be a smart move to inspect the other parts of the linkage for loose bolts and worn parts. I think there is a linkage problem ahead of a NSS problem, but I haven't enough information to know for sure.

The neutral safety switch is under the air filter housing, not under the car. To access the Park/Neutral switch, you have to remove the air filter housing.

The switch is a rotating switch, and the linkage passes through it, kind of like putting a pencil in the spindle of a cassette tape. If the linkage were out of adjustment, then the wrong gear range would be selected and the gear range indicated on the dash would correspond to the gear range the transmission is in but not the gear range that the shift lever point to. Since the shifter position corresponds to the gear range that the transmission has actually engaged but just the indicator lights on the dash and reverse lights are incorrect, the most likely culprit is that the switch has rotated out of position.

Really! I have 5 cars in my driveway, and the NSS is mounted to the side of the transmission in 4 of them, the 5th has a manual transmission.

We are a bit fuzzy on what is pointed to where.

But, it appears you and I are on the same page at the end of the day -- the NSS works right, but is in the wrong position. I need a Camry in my stable to know about this kind of stuff. At least I can figure it out ..

Really. The NSS is mounted on the side of the transmission, but since the Camry is front wheel drive with a transverse mounted engine and transaxle, the side of the transmission ends up at the front of the car.

If all of your cars have a longitudinally mounted engine and transmission, then you have to get at the switch from underneath. If any has a transverse mounted engine and transmission, the NSS will be in the engine compartment.

I'm not quite as fuzzy - after years of listening to customers and my wife try to describe what is going on with their cars, I've learned to decipher customer-eze.

I don't have a Camry in my stable either, but our Avalon (and my factory repair manual for the Avalon) is close enough. For the rest of the cars, I check them out during my annual visit to the auto show and try to remember anything that is different from Toyota's usual setups.