Auto starter neutral switch

[Bat21]

As today is the first dry day since we returned off holiday, I decided to have a poke around underneath my truck.

Put the key in and nothing happened..... dash lights up as normal and clicking relay as normal but starter was clearly not playing ball

After a lot of poking and prodding, I decided to move the auto gear leaver to see if that had any affect. Aha, while moving it the starter tried to spin. Eventually she fired up and is fine now, even tried turning her off and on a few times

Anyone know where the starter neutral switch is located? is it in the box somewhere or located externally? I plan on bypassing the switch to eliminate the problem

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

It's on the passenger side of the box Paul, easy to get at / off and take apart to inspect. The little springs inside turn to dust and then the contacts have no pressure on them. Could also be that you gear selector linkage needs adjusting.

 

[Bat21]

Thanks Jon, I did manage to find it earlier after posting here, but the 12mm bolts had that "I'm going to snap off if you carry on" type feel to them

The connectors to the wiring to them looks like they are near to the auto box dipstick tube, so I'm going to leave the switch for now and try and figure out a bypass. If that fails I'll have another got at the bolts

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Are you just nudging the selector to make it go or are the movements needed a bit more random? If you're just giving it a slight nudge in one direction only then I'd try adjusting the selector linkage. In that case also check the gearbox mounting hasn't separated because then the box shifts a bit sometimes and that affects the selector linkage ...

 

[Bat21]

Positive movements are needed to move through the range Jon so I think the selector is okay....

 

[Scott]

A word of warning regarding leaving the neutral start bypassed long term.

I have a mate that once had an old jag, and when he bought it the neutral start had been bypassed. One day it was on a ramp in a workshop, some one decided to start it up from outside the car, to let it warm up before moving it out. Unbeknown to him it had accidentally be knocked into reverse, it fired and promptly set off backwards off the ramp. Fortunately the ramp was at ground level, unfortunately the drivers door was open! The guy manged to dive out of the way to avoid being trapped between the jag and the ramp, but the drivers door got wrenched right round till it was hard up against the wing.

Hard lesson learned, the neutral start switch was fixed soon after.

What has to be kept in mind is that you know that the neutral start switch has been bypassed, but it may not be you that is starting the vehicle up.

Good luck with the fault, I hope it proves to be a simple fix.

 

[Chris]

I have had to do this. It's a twiddle here, then twiddle there to counter the effects of the first twiddle. There is a procedure for it in the handbook, but it needs two people. Never made complete sense to me as I was doing it, but I did get everything finally lined up. Red indicators in the shift windows, the lights on the dash of selected gears and the neutral start.

Chris

 

[Bat21]

I think the linkage is fine as the Red indicators in the shift windows and the lights on the dash of selected gears are all in sync.

I'm hoping the small 2-pole connector is the neutral start connection, the other connector has 8 pins so I'm guessing that will be for the dash indicators etc. I know it's not the ideal solution but as those bolts feel like they aren't going to play ball, I'm going to go for the by pass....