Last night after work I dug out my digital meter and what wiring
diagrams I did have and set to work. As it turned out the
ignition/starter switch on the snake isn't too complex, at least from an
external point of view. It didn't take much to figure out which of the
three terminals went to what. One big clump of wires that went
"everywhere", one single wire that obviously went off to the starter
solenoid and the single "hot" input. But the hot input wasn't very
hot; 10.75V, or about 2V less than the voltage across the battery. And
when I turned the switch on, this voltage dropped to zero.
By wiggling the fat bundle the hot wire branched out of and watching the
meter, it didn't take long to determine that the problem was in the
feed-through connector at the firewall. Just a corroded connector pin,
the standard old age problem. Everything is hunky-dory now. Well, I
did manage to pull all the bulbs out of their sockets while I was
fiddling underneath the dash. My carpet is will illuminated at night
now but I can't read any of the gauges. Well, that doesn't hurt the
runnin' none so I can live with that for a few days.
Thanks to those of you who sent me addressees of possible ignition
switch suppliers. I really do want to replace it. The reason I was
immediately suspicious of it in the first place was because a few years
ago it stuck on in the starter position and I had a hell of a time
getting it turned off. I figured it was finally on its death throws.
I do have another question about this switch: how is it removed from
the dash? It has a spring on the back side which can be compressed by
pushing the switch body towards the dash. It appears to be some sort of
compress-and-twist-off arrangement but I wasn't able to get it off. I'd
like to make sure that this is the way done before I over stress
something and it breaks.
Oh, and thanks to Daren Stone for his brake light story. It reminded me
that a few weeks back I guy pulled up along side of me in traffic and
told me my brake lights weren't working. Later that day I did confirmed
that the ammeter deflected slightly when I pressed on the brake pedal
but I couldn't tell whether or not the lights were actually coming on.
Last night after I got the car running again I remembered to check this
out. I confirmed that they were working.
Roland
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