Ive found the guides for the NSS fixes, but I have a couple more questions. that are not clear:

can the NSS be removed with the vehicle in park? or, where does the shifter have to be?

people are talking about it breaking when being removed. I understand its plastic on one half, but how is it breaking? Is there a trick to getting it out without breaking it? I figured degreasing the area is a good place to start.

some say to sand the contacts, while others say just clean them up with contact cleaner. is sanding needed?

thanks in advance!

 

1) You can remove it in any position.
2) They will sometimes just snap because they get brittle with age and most of the time you have to be pry them off if the have never been removed. As for any tips on removing it. Just take your time and when you pry it off make sure not to pry on it to hard and work it from side to side to try to get it coming off evenly.
3) Sanding the contact is the best way to remove the thin film that can cover the contact that can cause you not to make a good connection.
I hope this helps.

 

any gear... the selector rod goes through a hole in the middle of the nss, so just get it lined up

There is a collar for the switch that slips over the selector rod, and that collar often seizes to the rod. The collar is aluminum and sometimes it will just fall apart into chunks if its worked too much. Especially a lot of people try to pull/pry the switch off, and the collar is stuck to the rod, you just destroy the switch. You need to push the NSS off the selector rod, from behind, using something like a barbecue fork, rather than pull/pry it off from the edges.

depends how much corrosion you find

 

i was a little worried about removing the NSS on my xj..as i was having engine starting problems,i may well have been one of the lucky ones in that my NSS came off quite easy,i took it apart and cleaned it out rubbed the copper contact with emery paper,i also used a little grease in re-assembly i put it back on the xj,made a small adjustment to get the engine to start in P or N and of course i made sure the reverse lights worked.simple job with good benefits...good luck.

 

thanks, I will take some pics and post back if I have good luck this weekend!