wiring to transmission

[rumb]

While under the car pulling the fuel in and out lines I noticed the 4 pin connector to the transmission had been unplugged and 2 of the terminals jumpered.
Any ideas why that would have been done?  What do those wires control?

I have only driven the car a few miles so haven't had anytime to notice anything out of the ordinary.

[Alec300SD]

Looks like the connector that plugs into the neutral safety switch.

The jumper may be bypassing the backup light circuit that usually goes through the neutral safety switch.

Do you have backup lights now?
If you do,  are they inactivated with the jumper removed?

[rumb]

Is it possible that my NSS is bad and that is why they rigged it?

[markb]

If it's wired the same as my 450SEL, it's likely bypassing the starter lockout contacts on the neutral safety switch, which keeps the car from starting if the shifter is in anything but PARK or NEUTRAL. If you disconnect the jumper, the starter will likely not engage in any shift position. They would correspond to two terminals on the safety switch both labeled "50". I'm also guessing your back lights don't work at all. The neutral safety switch is pretty easy to replace.

And, oh yeah, it's there for safety reasons!

[rumb]

Which again amazes me what supposed shortcuts some mechanics will make to avoid installing a $31 part to fix the problem, vs figuring out what each of the 4 wires do and creating a jumper wire that bandaids and leaves something else not working.......

Just yet another of the weird miswired, disconnected items that I have found on the car so far.

Another one I found is the tail lights, they wired in an extra light bulb to illuminate the farthest outer segment with extra wires clugged in the trunk, both of which managed at sometime to melt a huge hole in the plastic cover panels......

I still have at least 2 wires under the dash to investigate.

[markb]

The NSS may be ok (though I've had to replace mine).. the connector may have just imploded which would have been more work to replace than the NSS. No excuse, though. It sounds like the mechanic may have worn a mask and a spandex super-hero suit with a large lightning bolt on his chest! 

You could fix the connector and see if it works before replacing the NSS. Note the 2 terminals labeled "50" may not be interchangeable; they're also labeled "3" and "4".