Hello All,

Need help identifying the switch in the picture located in the upper left corner of the first picture and in the center of the second pic (taken from front of tunnel facing rear). You can see the spades sticking out. It is located on the drivers side of the transmission. Third pic is from rear looking forward in tunnel. The car is an automatic.




In this picture, I assume these wires attach to the switch in above pic? Which wire attaches to which spade or does it matter?

 

The kickdown switch??

 

Whats the Kickdown switch? Does it have something to do with TCS?

 

I think so also. I can't see it well but it should be the kickdown/TCS switch. The oem connector is gone. There should be one horizontal blade, and one vertical. One is the kickdown, and one is the TCS.

 

No. The kickdown will drop the transmission down a gear when you floor the accelerator.

 

does anyone have a pic of how the oem wires were oriented? thanks macko and mashman

 

It's in the service manual - I think were it describes the TCS. Im out right now, so I can't look it up. If no one else has looked it up, I well in the morning - hopefully someone will have it soon.

Do you know which wire goes back to the TCS, and which goes back to the kickdown?

 

Ill look at the wiring diagram in the morning and see if i can make sense of this.

 

Trans kickdown / tcs
It's wired to the switch under the dash by the gas pedal
The th400 has electric, the th350 has a mechanical cable that connected just under the throttle at the carb

The connector is a black boot affair that slipped over the whole plug and frequently fell off and landed on the exhaust and melted

The vertical spade should be the kickdown, the top one (top of the "T" shape) should be the TCS

I've got a picture here somewhere
Mooser

 

the top one is the black wire the bottom one is orange

 

Thanks so much for the assistance

 

Original plug should be vaguely like this


Oh, you can kind of see the black wire on the top like Legacy pointed out

If you find somewhere to buy one, let me know, mine doesn't go on quite far enough
Mooser

 

I found one at a swap meet off on a old engine harness cost me $5.00 for the old harness. I was able to use a couple of the other original harness connectors as well. You will think you have a new car when you get this fixed as your car is not properly shifting down when you step on it. It makes a HUGE difference. Not sure if there is a reproduction one available. I never had found a new one.

 

edit

 

Question about the kickdown switch. You say it will drop the transmission down a gear when you floor the accelerator.
Gonna give you a long story but I'm wondering if the kickdown switch might be the cause of my issue?

I floored the accelerator recently. (1972 Automatic Base Model with an Edlebrock 1906 carb with an electric choke) It went smoothly from 1st to 2nd ran to high RPMs before shifting to 3rd while I was going up a hill (I had a truck coming up on my *** so I was afraid to slow down). I hit 3rd at the top of the hill, then as I leveled off and got into a turn lane, it stalled out on me. The first time I tried to restart it, it sounded like I was trying to start an already running car. I made sure it was in park, actually turned the car off, took the key out of the ignition and started it (the radio quit working) and drove it home. When I got home, and went to shut off the car, the started sounded like I was trying to start it. The fuse for the courtesy lights was blown and the fuse for the radio was blown.
I've talked to a few mechanics. The transmission guy, suggested it was NOT the transmission but maybe the kickdown switch. Another mechanic suggested the starter or transmission (seemed way too all-encompassing).
I have not started the car since. But, I just finished replacing the Engine Wiring Harness. The starter wiring was piecemeal and frayed. The wiring to the coil was bare and frayed. (The coil is sitting in its position but the bolt is missing that holds it still.)

 

Sorry, I can't answer your question, but you are adding on to an 8 year-old thread. Might be better if you just started a new thread to ask your question.