chuckross1957

Just finished installing a bump switch for my ford type remote solenoid. I know most everyone else has the factory starter relay and some have replaced theirs with the hot shot relay. I was thinking that my truck is going to be 30 years old in a couple of months and the ignition switch and the transmission safety switch are likely the original ones. So it seems like a good idea to be able to bypass them if it becomes necessary. And if nothing else the bump switch will be useful if I adjust the valves in the future. I have an ATO fuse/holder going in to the ford solenoid and a glass fuse holder going out to the starter solenoid. This allows me some flexibility with the wiring. The ATO holder allows me to change the inputs to the ford solenoid, I can pull the fuse and connect the output of my bump switch to the input of the solenoid. The Littelfuse ATO add a circuit FHA200BP is helpful here. I still want to make a patch wire (testing purposes) for the glass fuse holder so I can run it straight to the positive battery post without having to crawl under the truck and disconnect the spade connector. The ford solenoid can be wired in different ways, I can change between two different methods without too much difficulty.

chuckross1957

I probably should have posted this on one of the threads where someone is having the very intermittent no crank (turn over) starter problem. I had this issue with a previous vehicle I owned. It was also an automatic as is my 86 Toyota pickup. I know from my previous experience, it can be frustrating because you are not sure if you have resolved the issue because the problem is very intermittent. The situation is a little different for automatics verse manual transmissions. For one you can't push or pull start an automatic. I think you should cover all the other bases before installing a DIY bump switch, like fixing the wiring flaw, upgrading your battery cables, etc. Also I don't think I'd do this with a manual transmission, installing a push button switch in the cab is safer. That said, I learned some lessons from previously installing a bump switch. I suggest installing it in an out of the way location in the engine compartment. A place where it can't be unintentionally pressed. Also set it up so it is only hot when you need to use it. I used a universal horn button switch, I mounted it upside down and in front of the battery (bolted it to the battery hold down). I have the switch wired to a 6 fuse ATC fuse box. I'm only going to have a fuse installed when I'm using the switch. You want to be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THE VEHICLE IS NOT IN GEAR!!! It probably is a good idea to engage your parking brake also. There may be some members on the forum who have installed the hot shot relay that has a bump switch, they might have some observations about their experiences having a bump switch permanently mounted under the hood.