Engine cuts out when i shift out of park

Asked by shadowheals Feb 27, 2017 at 08:24 AM about the 2003 Toyota Corolla S

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

While driving home Saturday night about a half mile to three quarter miles
from my house my tachometer started bouncing up and down. Then the
headlights started flickering. I also heard a weird noise coming from my
car. I cant describe the noise very well, it was just audibly different than
normal.

I than got into my driveway and when i shifted it into park the engine cutoff.
I started the car back up with no problems but when i'd shift out of park the
engine would cut out again. I tried it again Sunday morning and same
thing. I could let it idle for any amount of time and there is no issue. I also
tried it again this morning and i could shift it a few times but it would cut out
eventually.

Possible coincidence but we had a wicked downpour Saturday night and I
hit a decent size pool of water on the road a few hours before i got
home(drove it probably 20 minutes or so after that to get to my friends
house and was driving back when the issues occurred).

Automatic Transmission 225k miles

1 Answer

224,975

Well it does sound like a electrical issue, something must have gotten wet, like maybe the neutral safety switch. A wire or connection probably is cutting the engine when shifting. May want to try and get under there and unplug the neutral safety switch and blow out the plugin and the switch, see if that helps.

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