Curious.
How many of you have had one go bad?

 

have had 1969 since 1973, has never failed, probably just jinxed myself!

 

Hi x,
Happy New Year!
No failure in 46,000 miles!
I miss your presence and posts!
Regards,
Alan

 

I bought a 74 this past fall that I am doing a resto on this winter. The clutch Safety Switch wires are jumped ? Ok so I check the switch with my meter while pushing in the clutch and the switch reads good...Ok

So this begs me to wonder;
Did the PO have a problem with the start circuit and jumper the switch, fix the problem and never remove the jumper..dono

Did the PO want to be able to start the car without depressing the clutch....dono

The car now starts as designed with the switch now back in the circuit. But I am keeping the jumper in the car in case the safety switch was/is intermittent. I can plug in the jumper in less than a minute, and be on my way.

8Valve

 

Those switches last for a long time if used correctly. The problem is when someone turns the ignition key to start before the clutch pedal is fully depressed causing a small arc when the contacts in the switch meet up. This results in the pedal having to be depressed further and further due to contact wear until the pedal is finally all the way to the floor and the contacts in the switch no longer touch. Some just jump the two wire connector to the switch bypassing it. The switch is a bit of a pain to get at. It's a drivers seat out, on your back, under the dash kind of deal with a 1/4" drive socket set with a short extension. To install the small clip back on the rod you need 10 or 12 inch long needle nose pliers. The clips are so small they are really easy to lose if you drop one. I found mine an hour later in my hair.... They are the same tiny hairpin clips used on the back up light switch rod on a 4 speed.

 

Original still in mine with ~100K.

 

As difficult as it is to change those switches, GM probably spent an extra few pennies on their quality to avoid warranty expenses.

 

Well, shame on me! I mis-diagnosed the problem of no crank. I found that checking the clutch pedal switch is a 2-person job. I re-checked prior to removing the old switch, but this time my wife exercised the clutch while I held the meter probes firmly on the switch --- voila, the switch works fine. So I then looked at the only other thing in the circuit and read up on the PASSKEY circuit which involves the ignition key "pellet" resistance matching the VATS resistance. My key pellet read the resistance but would not allow cranking so I presumed that the ignition switch contacts were worn or for whatever reason did not make contact with the key pellet. I then ordered a set of VATS resistors, found the "orange harness" on the steering column behind the hush panel, cut the connector leads, soldered the closest matching resistor onto the connector leads, then plugged the connector back into the black harness leading to the controller. All is now ok and cranking is back. I am now more open to theft, but at least she starts now.

On to the next task. I need to find a part number for a fuel pump assembly (fuel pump with sender) for my 1991 base Corvette and find it difficult. I am at the point of looking at the Delphi HP10031 which some people say works on a 91 but the website info says it is not compatible. So I am asking if anyone can advise me as to a fuel pump assembly part number that will work in my Corvette. I will continue to hunt myself.
Thanks in advance.
.

 

Adding your unrelated question to the end of a 4 year old thread probably isnt the way to go. Try starting a new thread in C4.