Acuracrybaby1

So I went to the store shut my car I came started my car up again nothing happened all my lights came on but nothing happened no clicking no noise all my lights work I shifted my shifter all the way down and all the way back up and then it started so I figured it was the neutral safety switch that I needed to replace so I'm going to do that but I was doing some research and I seen that if the car was making like a whirring sound it could also be the linkage or the cable how do I tell which one it is?? I literally just bought this car I didn't know it was a flood vehicle when I bought it I was in a tight spot $2,500 it looked nice it ran really good it still runs good but I noticed when I'm trying to shift out of reverse or by reverse sometimes it gets a little sticky and I have to maybe go back up or wiggle it to go back down anybody have any ideas of where I should start