Where is the Neutral Safety Switch?

[redfalken]

Everybody knows a lot about a few things and maybe not so much about others (although Roger isn't a newcomer to the Falcon so he's got a jump on a lot of us!). And as a group, there's almost always someone who can supply the answers or at least point you in the right direction.

I've dealt with that NS switch (although I would call it more of a connector than a switch) and they can be persnickety. While you have it out, clean the connection points with an eraser and bend them out just a tad so they make good contact with the inner tube. And take a mirror and flashlight to look down into the opening. If the surface of the inner tube looks dirty you may want to try and clean it as well.

But there's really not much to them. Just hard to get adjusted. Especially if the detent plate is worn and your shifter arm is sloppy.

[Luva65wagon]

Wouldn't you know it - I rewire this Comet as per the wiring diagram and when I go to restart it yesterday (after detailing the engine compartment a little bit) the engine started turning over with just the key on. So I swapped these wires and all was well again. So... I've now got to check the wires on the other cars.

Hopefully, by now, you've resolved the issue you had.

[ew1usnr]

Hello, Roger.

"...the engine started turning over with just the key on".

Thanks for the info. That is a short and sweet summation of what happens when the wires are backwards. My car is black and all my wiring under the hood and in the trunk were spray-painted black by a previous owner when they had painted and detailed the car. That adds an additional element of challenge when I try to figure out which wire goes where. Sometimes I can use my thumb nail to scrape off enough black paint to be able to see the color coding. I looked at my wiring diagram and looked at the starter solenoid and what I have (red on left brown on right) matches the diagram (see below) and seems to be correct. The car does not start with just the key on as you described above. The key needs to be in the on position and then it starts when the shift lever is pulled further to left while in park. I'm still betting that the problem will be connected to the neutral safety switch.

solenoid.JPG

Before I could pursue the neutral safety switch issue, another more immediate concern intervened when my car started leaking coolant. It was a slow drip coming down the lower right radiator hose. The clamp was tight, so it seemed that maybe the actual leak was somewhere up above and the hose was just the point at where the coolant was dripping from. The source of the problem was not at all obvious, so on Friday I left the car at a garage where they said that they would pressurize the cooling system to find the leak. Hopefully, I'll get the car back and be able to resume pondering the neutral safety switch issue this coming weekend.