I hope someone can point me in the right direction. I have owned this car for about one year (A freebie). About 6 months ago I started having trouble getting it to start. More times then I care to remember I would get in my car to start it and the engine will not turn over. The lights, radio, and power windows work, but the car makes no attempt to turn over. I find myself sitting in parking lots waiting and waiting. I took it to a garage the other day after my mom's boyfriend finally got it to start after messing with it for about 10 minutes. I put the keys in their night box and explained what was happening. For 4 days they had the car in the garage and could not once get it not to start. They said they checked the battery and looked at the computer history but everything was checking out. Being a high school graduate this year and having little finances as I get ready to start college I just told them not to take it apart to "guess" what might be wrong because they informed me they would have to charge for labor at that point. I told I would just take the car and see what happens. Well, wouldn't you know I get it home, turn it off and come back out 3 hours later and BAM it won't start. GO figure. I have never felt so stressed in my life. What in the heck do you think is going on?

Thanks,
Desperate in KY

That almost sounds like a Park safety switch intermittent failure..

Is this a 1996?

I agree with Jrs3800 the safety switch may be going bad. Try starting it in neutral. If that doesn't work then try holding the shifter as far forward as possible. Finally, make sure you remove and clean the battery terminals even though they may look clean. If there is a dirty terminal it may only be making intermittant contact.

A friend of my wife called to tell us she was at the gas station and could not start her car. She pulled in, shut it off and then it would not start. I said I would come out and take a look. I had her try to start it while I looked at her headlights and noticed that they did not get dim. So that meant there was no load on the battery. I then got in it and turned the key all the way, as if to start it, held it with my left hand and then grabbed the console shifter with my right hand and wiggled it around a bit and boom, it started. She was surprised and wanted to know what I did. I had to explain about the safety switch. This is a long story, but I would try that. You are evidently placing the PRNDL control into park differently then the mechanics who tried to reproduce the problem.

Try and duplicate the problem again, then try and start it in "N". Might be going bad or just need to be adjusted.

I had a similar issue, plus a key lock issue. After taking apart my shift console I found 2 wires broken from the end of the shifter connector. I had to remove the pins and solder it.
I’ve read that some dealers will replace the harness or shifter with these issues.