Can't crank Explorer in any gear

[Valarie Messina]

Have a 2001 Ford Explorer. The shifter has always been loose starting one year ago. It's stopped cranking in Park so then it would only start in Neutral. Now, that is no longer the case and it will not start in any gear. It could be the shifter cable , the neutral safety switch or it could be the bolts under the steering column. Either way, it can't be towed so I'm looking for instructions on how to either bypass the NS switch, tighten the shift cable or adjust the bolts. Can someone tell me what is the easiest way to fix this. Where do I find the bolts under the steering column ?

 

[Rick]

Start at post three of this thread: Neutral Safety Switch Bypass NSS

The original post is about bypassing the switch so he can swap to a manual transmission. You just need the info for bypassing the switch itself.