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I saw this plunger near the top of where the hood rests. I'm assuming this is a switch that was meant to detect if the hood is open or closed. It looks like something is supposed to be connected to it but whatever that was appears to be missing. I'd like to know this piece is called and what is missing. As a side note this is a 1978 base model Corvette.
Thanks, I don't know much about the alarm systems that came factory for the car. If anyone has any pictures of what this looks like when connected and where the wire connected to I would like to see those. Since this is an alarm switch can anyone confirm whether or not this piece is related. I'm assuming it to be an aftermarket alarm switch. I found it on the under part of the dash to the right of the steering wheel barely visible. Sorry the picture is blurry but it's just a simple push button that pops out as soon as it's pushed. I do have a FOB that came with my keys but the buttons don't seem to do anything. So if my assumptions are right about what I'm seeing the car came with a factory installed alarm that was disabled probably when an aftermarket alarm was installed which was also later disabled.
That switch is definitely not factory. The factory alarm was standard in '78. It's Achilles heel is an incredibly finicky and trouble-prone switch attached to the driver side door key cylinder that arms and disarms the system. When (not if) it fails the alarm sounds continuously. A typical "fix" was to simply disable the dedicated alarm horn only to find that the battery runs down because a relay in the center console is constantly energized with the system in "alarm" mode.
The factory alarm system is primitive and modestly effective.
Identifying a part
