nuetral start switch? Where is it?

The last thing to finish the job of installing the B&M shifter is the wiring of the switch. Well, I cant find it. It is not on the trans. I dont think its under the dash. Is it in the steering column? Has anybody ever done this successfully? My car is a '76- 302 -C4

 

I am pretty sure it is on the column. Can't get you any closer than that.

 

The C-4 Has a "half moon" switch assembly that is on the linkage shafts where they go into the transmission case. The switch assembly has the neutral start and back-up light switches built into it.It should have a pigtail with a molded connector. It is adjusted byshifting to neutral, loosening the retaining bolts (1/4" 7/16 head) placing a pin into the hole and then locking down the retaining bolts.


PaulS

 

As I understand it, that's only on the floor-shift C4's. (And I need one of those switches for my conversion...)

 

I guess this was a question I had too about the neutral start switch. I recently converted to a B&M floor shifter from a original column due to headers and I cannot find the neutral saftey switch. I have found the half -moon shaped switch on the lower portion of the steering column under the dash but that is only a reverse light switch. In a old chilton manual I have it refers to this switch as a neutral saftey and reverse light switch for a 70 Mav but mine is a 74 and I think things have changed for the newer models. The best I can tell is when the the car went to the column ignition in 70 it carried over the old switch from 69.5 since they were dash ignition. Since then it has changed to a reverse light only switch. In my car it seems to be you just cannot physically turn the key to start postion unless the column shifter is in the park or neutral position. There is no electrical switch involved. I could be wrong but this is how mine seems to work. I as of now do not have any means to prevent an in gear start except just knowing not to. I was thinking of somehow rigging up the seatbelt saftey start feature that I unhooked from the seats into the shifter somehow but have yet to look into it.

 

74Mav; The neutral/safety switch has nothing to do with the column, except that it is mounted there. It is to keep the car from starting if the car is in any other gear except neutral or park. The reverse lights are also on there. I converted my 69.5 to a floor shift. I found the neutral safety switch at the bottom of the column, and followed the wiring back to a connector. I put in a switch from a '74 Comet, which mounts on the trans, and extended the wires from the switch to the connector. After it is wired, take a 1/8" drill bit (I think that's the right size), and find the hole to put it in on the switch. Move the switch while the car is in neutral, until the bit goes all the way through the switch. It is now adjusted. I took the wiring for the shift light on the column, cut and rerouted the wires to the shifter light. That way it works just like the stock light on the column, and comes on with the headlight switch. Hope this makes some sense. I don't know the color of the wires to the switch, but they are fairly easy to find. Let us know,

 

74Mav; forgot to add that the reverse lights will work when the wires are extended, just like the column mounted switch did.

 

Right

My reverse lights are now working as I extended the wires from the switch to the shifter but that is all that switch did. No neutral saftey on it and there are no switches on the trans either. What seems to have worked on the original set-up on my car as a neutral saftey switch was that if you did not have the car column shifter in PARK or NEUTRAL you could not turn the key far enough to the start position to crank the engine. The key would only go as far as the run position. It seem to be a mechanical lock-out and not an electrical switch as in 1969.5 and 1970. Now maybe they later used an electrical switch on the transmission as some have mentioned and maybe differently from year to year but mine does not have that. Just one switch located on the bottom of the column and it simply runs the backup lights, at least that is all I have found so far. Thanks for your help

 

You said a 74 comet had a trans switch?? Maybe thats my answer if it will fit on my trans that did not have a switch orignally at all?

 

74Mav; yes, all of the later Mav/Comets had the switch on the trans. Before you get one, check for the boss on the trans and the bolt holes. They should be there. Get a neutral/safety switch from a junk yard trans, and hook it up. Hope this works out for you. It is dangerous and a bummer not having one. Later,

 

maybe i'm wrong but if you are putting in the b&m shifter you do not need the stock neutral safety switch. the neutral safety switch is contained in the shifter itself. all you need to do is run the stock wires to the new switch. at least that's the way it is on my b&m megashifter. is this a new shifter? if not, do you have the instructions? if you need them i can mail you a copy for the megashifter. what i did when i had a used one was go to the local checkers and ask to copy the instructions with the one they carried. there are 2 brown switches in the megashifter. one is the backup lights and the other is the neutral safety switch. these switches are also adjustable so make sure they touch the park and neutral spots only.

 

i did my 1975 last year. there was no switch on the trans. used a b&m ratchet type shifter. it has the neutral and rev lite switches built in. if i recall correctly i found what wires went to the half moon switch at the base of the column and traced out the rev lite circuit and neutral switch power circuits for the new shifter. it wasn't as bad as it sounds. just leave the column shifter in park. that way the old neutral switch is powering the wire to the new switch. the switch at the bottom of the column has the rev lite circuit. cut the wires and splice the b&m switch into it. still working well after a year.

 

Well, you guys all are right! You all have the answer for your particular car. The thing is the Ford guys change it around from year to year. I always thought the Maverick was unique in that it stayed the same. Well.. my car is a '76. The switch at the bottom of the steering column is only a Rev light ...with only 2 wires. There is no switch on the trans at all.How easy that would be. The B&M shifter has its own set of switches. The trick is to find the wires that the old switch is using, cut them and splice them into the new switch. My best guess(using Ford wiring diagrams) is that the switch is in the housing that the column shifter was mounted to. Thats why I cant find it. I dont want to take my steering wheel off just to look for it. The wires do connect to a big connector at the bottom of the column. I am afraid to take a guess. Maybe I'll just leave the darn thing unconnected. At least my car starts as it is now!

 

Thanks for all the info from everyone.

Don,

I do have he instructions for the B&M shifter and it does come with its own switches I was just trying to find the wiring. Thanks for the offer.


igo1090,

Yours sounds a lot like mine except I did not trace my wires back to a neutral saftey switch just reverse lights.

Stallion,

Yours also sounds alot like mine except mine does have 4 wires although it looks like 2 until you really look deep under there. It seems to have 1 positive and 1 negative for each backup light making 4 total wires for me so I cannot use even a trans mounted switch if I have no wire leads. I am not for sure we actually (factory locking Column cars )have an electrical switch that is a neurtral saftey switch.
If your column shifter is still intact try this. Remove you battery cables so your engine does not crank. Put the column shifter in Park and turn the key like your going to start it. Take note how far the key turns. Now put the column shifter in any gear except neutral and try to turn the key. If will not turn to the start position if I am correct. It is a physical/mechanical lockout. The factory column shifter has to be in the right place (neutral or park) in order to turn the key to start because of our locking steering column. The 69.5 and maybe the 70 models did not have a locking column shifter so they actually really needed a switch that was truely combined with a reverse light switch. I looked on Autokrafters and there is a double switch pictured for the 70 Maverick it has 2 adjuster pins for lining it up on installation(part number SW868A) So it has 2 seperate built in switches on it for reverse and one for the neutral saftey. My factory switch only has one adjuster spot for a pin. So as far as I can tell I am out of luck as far as wireleads go to any switch it was part of the locking column not any switch.

I do have some sort of seatbelt saftey system on mine that will not allow the car to start unless you have the belt pulled out when you are sitting in the seat. Of course I unhooked this but maybe I can use it for this purpose somehow with the B&M switch instead of the seatbelts.

I come across another reverse switch just like mine on e-bay real cheap that I used for the factory plug leads to the new B&M . So my factory switch and plug was never touched it is there unpluged. Since I cut the plug off the second switch I decided to take it apart. Sure enough there is only one contact spot in there. That would be for the reverse lights only.

Anyway these are the findings on my car. No one ever drives the car except for me. When I took it to the muffler shop last year I told the guy who got in it to move it about the lack of a neutral saftey switch. I do have my reverse lights working.

 

i never actually found the neutral switch. i found what wire was hot in park and dead in reverse under the dash. i think it was two of the wires involved in that switch at the bottom of the column, but not sure. just used a test light to check out wires until i found the right circuit.