So we had recently decided that my NSS was bad because I could jump the starter and it'd start, I also could get it to start if I wiggled it around in N and P but built a bypass switch turning my jeep into a push start, used 16GA wire and it didn't work.

I went back and bought 10GA wire, and had a new starter lying around and figured I'd toss it in while I was down there (even though the current one seemed to be working fine, it was just 14 years old) so I wired my bypass push-to-start button into the new starter, put it on and turned the key.... Turned right over, no failing NSS. Now my jeep is a push-start but I apparently didn't need it.

My question is this:

Have you ever heard of a failing starter acting the as if the NSS were failing? The starter would turn over fine when jumped and when the shifter was wiggled around in N and P but not with just a key turn. Why would a failing starter work when I jump it and wiggle the shifter but not normally?

 

Starters can act funny. Be thankful that you figured it out that easily. I had a starter going bad a couple months ago, KNEW it was the starter but over-thunk it. Posted here, had 3 pages of people telling me it was the battery. It was the starter.