Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Car Starts but can't shift into gear

Hello this is actually about my Wife's 1996 Ford Taurus. Her car will start but none of the electrical will work. For instance the Radio, power windows etc. Thus she can not shift the car in gear to drive it.

I suspect that it may be either a brake relay or something called the Transmittion safety relay.

Ford Told me that it may be a pinched wire in the interfender rail that will take about 2 hours to look for it before they even know what the problem is.

Any Ideas what could be going on here. I have already checked all the fuses.

Please Help.
Bob

Did you check the mega fuses under the hood?

Just wondering, it the trans is electronically controlled (and aren't they all now?) then a blown mega fuse could be a cause of all your problems.


But that's totally a guess on my part.

Good luck!

Blown Mega Fuse is just for the alt everything will still run off battery power for a short period of time without it. Check to see if the brake lights light up when you step on the brake. IF they do not then the shifter will not release from park since it runs off the break light relay. If you really need to move the car you can manually override this safty feature by prying up plate under the shifter and moving the lockout with your finger.

As for the electrical portion check all fuses, even the ones next to the battery. Also, what exactly happened, did this come on all of a sudden or did somethign happen and now this is the problem caused by it?

-Greg