MrGraham

Hello,

I have been having difficulty starting my truck after the temperature warms and then turns colder. I believe moisture is somehow getting to the clutch safety and breaking the connection when it freezes. Everything appears to be working although it will not turn over. It does not consistently do this although when the temps are right and there is enough moisture it happens. I tried placing a hair dryer under the clutch pedal and after sometime it fires to life. Can anyone tell me where the clutch safety is and/or explain how to bypass it? This is a yard plow truck so I am not overly concerned about the safety issue as it is not used very often.
Thank you greatly for any thoughts or suggestions you may have!!!

dewman

Welcome to the board!

The switch that you are looking for is somewhere under where you were placing the hairdryer. A Haynes, or Chilton's manual should be of some assistance with your problem. They are worth the $20 or so that they cost.

MrGraham

Thanks!

I have been thinking about getting one although this truck has run like a champ and I have drug my feet on getting one. This is my third winter with it and no problems till now. I do take care of it and do not plow hard.

I have really looked up under the pedals and couldn't find anything and was wondering if it was on the other side of the firewall although when looking in by the engine I couldn't see anything that suggested that is what it was.

NGM

The clutch safety switch looks like a brake switch. If the truck has cruise control it will have a vacuum line to it as well as 2 wires. You can jump the 2 wires out and bypass it (although I do not reccomend this as a fix) to see if you still have the problem, which I suspect you will. I am thinking more of the solonoid on the fender or a bad starter as the culprit.

MrGraham

Do you think I have been lucky using the hair dryer to get it going? I have had to do it 3 or 4 times in the past couple of weeks and it has worked every time. Additionally, I have never had this problem in warmer temps, above freezing....it always fires up like a champ.

Thanks for the info and feedback, I appreciate it.

wde3477

Don't hear of these switches failing very often - not nearly as often as the main starter relay solenoid or the starter itself. However, can't argue with the hair dryer success story either.

If you don't know what it is, then start checking and verifying to figure out what it's not.

MrGraham

I feel fairly confident it is the switch or rather the cold and freezing affecting its proper functioning in some manner. I am asking because I am not very knowledgeable regarding mechanics and want to hear from folks with the actually experience and/or knowledge. Thanks!

dewman

That would be NGM, wde3477 and Triton7700 that I know of for sure.

MrGraham

my questions is do you know where each of them are...lol

MrGraham

So I found the switch between the brake and gas pedal against the fire wall. The challenge I am going to have is to figure out which two wires are for the safety because there are 6 or 8 going into it. Anyone have any thoughts...???

Thanks!