Car idles in Neutral but dies in Park. Causes?

Mike8675309

Registered User
O.k. new thread.

My 90 SC 35th with the AOD died the other day while driving it back from storage. I thought it was any number of things, but I found a new symptom.

I can start the car in neutral but putting the car in park causes it to die instantly. Putting it in Drive or Reverse causes the same thing. Starting in park the engine acts like it has a huge load on it causing the starter to draw huge loads of power. I can get it to start in park but only by giving it 1/4 throttle.

There is a loud rattling coming from the transmission pan area when in neutral that gets louder as the engine is reved up to about 2k.

Car has 123k miles on it, trans is full of fluid. Drive and Reverse killing the engine with that rattle I might think exhaust blockage in the cat or something. But the die in Park has me fearful that something has broken in the trans.

Note that when running in park at 1/4 throttle it doesn't seem to be trying to move anywhere.

Help?
 
Could it be that the neutral safety switch is grounding out in park, or that a varmit chewed through a wire and it's grounding on the chassis in park?

That's a current working idea.
 
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