Oh what a lovely Christmas. Spent 5 hours stranded in DC due to the fact that when I stopped to get coffee at 2am, my key would not turn back the whole way, so I could not get my key out of the ignition, and because I couldn't get the key out I could not restart the car. Basically it did the same thing as if I didn't have it in park and tried to take the key out, but it was definitely in park! It doesn't seem as if it's the ignition switch is bad, it seems as if the thing that tells the ignition switch that the transmission is in park is bad. So after the tow truck came, I had him lift up the car and I located this part (does anyone know the name of it?) which I guess senses what position the gearshift is in. I pulled off the harness, and took a piece of wire to jump the terminals, and none seemed to release the key, but when I jumped two of them I was able to overide whatever keeps the car from restarting without taking out the key first, but it also eliminated the starter position, so basically my two options are to run the engine simultaneously with the starter, or the off position. What I ended up doing was getting the car started and pulling out the jumper to turn the starter off. So, in this long winded post, what I need to know what is bad? Does it sound like I need a new ignition, or gearshift sensor?? I am hoping gearshift sensor becuase that looks much easier to replace!!

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87 300D - Running on Veggie oil; 260,000 plus miles; Original #14 head