VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Electrical - 6 volt N eutral Safety switch

I'm in the middle of replacing some wireing on my '54. While on VCCA Fall Tour last week the wire feeding the coil shorted and I had a meltdown. The neutral safety switch on this car with Powerglide has never worked. I found 2 large purple wires on the switch. Look like 8 gauge. One wire is disconected under the dash. It looks like it may have gone on the starter switch. The other wire was in the harness that burned going to the starter. But it had been cut off and was taped up in the harness. I checked the switch and it checks out good with a meter. I have looked thru all my manuals and can not find a wireing diagram after 1952 that shows a safety switch. The earlier models had a push button starter, the '54 has the starter in the ignition switch. There are 2 small wires on the safety switch that I have not tried to trace. If I put power to the ignition switch with the Large wires I would lose power upon putting it in gear. Does anyone have a diagram of how this is supposed to be wired? Do these models have a differnt ignition swith than a standard transmisson model?
Cleon

Cleon,
Check with Bill Mancuso. He is into a complete rebuild of a '54 hardtop. Knowing him he has copies of the manuals, parts book and other pertinent information.

The PG and Std, Shift cars use the same innition switch. I found the same lack of info. in the 1953-54 manuals also.
Looking at the 1955 manual one of the 8 MM wires goes from the ign. switch terminal marked solenoid to the safty switch, in 1955 this wire was dark blue. The other wire (violet) goes from the safty switch to the solenoid.
The 1954 colors amy or may not be the same but the general idea is the same.
At one tine your car must have been rewired like a Std. shift car.

Thank you for the information Gene. I don't understand why they would use such a large gauge wire to carry current from the igniton switch to the solenoid. But what you are saying makes sense, I can see how that would work. And yes there was a lone wire beside the harness going from the Solenoid terminal on the ignition switch to the solenoid. I am going to hook this switch up and I hope It works, but I may find out why someone changed it in the past.
Thank You, Cleon

I can't speak for the 54 but in later years the 8 gauge purple wire was used on GM vehicles. It was the main power source from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid and was only hot when the ignition switch was in the start position.On vehicles using safety switches the purple wire went to the safety switch and then to the starter solenoid. In later years the three speed had a safety switch on the clutch pedal or linkage and it was also fed by the purple wire. The purple wire was still being used in the early ninetys when I retired from GM. In most instances the two small wires on the safety switch are the back up lamp wires.

DD

dandyd, Yes your right on the 2 small wires. I traced them as being being the back up lamp wires. I still don't understand the thinking behind using such large gauge wires to activate the solenoid. It might be a carry over from earlier years when the starting current went thru the push button switch or the fact that the wireing route gets quite long from the switch to the end of the shift column and back to the starter. Anyway I will wire it up as Gene described and see what happens.
Thaks for the reply, Cleon

Cleon, here is my thinking on why the wires between the ignition switch, going thru the neutral safety switch are large. When the solenoid is pulled in on the 6 volt system it must hold the solenoid in engagment, that takes more current than you might think, also when the solenoid is being held in engagment the starter motor is using big gobs of current and the voltage of the battery is at it's lowest value without any current being replaced into the battery because the engine isn't charging. Therefore the solenoid needs a good supply of voltage and some current, the large wires make sure of that.

I have noticed that the wires on the pushbutton on my 51 is also heavy, and they are used to activate the solenoid.

I have tried to use a remote starter button that was made for a 12 volt starter on the 51 and the 53, both with six volt systems. The remote switch and wires get hot quickly, and won't work long because the switch is too light duty and the clip on wires are too small. Does it make any sense to you now?

Kinda makes you apreciate the stomp starter on the floor...

Yes, Stlemaster my stomp starter works great on my '32
Cleon

In looking at the 1953 wiring diagram in the 1949-53 shop manual the wire would be what is described in the diagram as the 10 Ga. purple wire. ( It says 10 Ga., actually I don't recall 8 Ga. being used ).On a P.G. the safty switch disconnects this wire from the solenoid when the lever is in one of the "gear" positions. It completes the circuit when the lever is in park or neutral. The solenoin requires a large current draw, thus the large wire.

in the 49-53 shop manual with the 54 supplement it has the 54 wiring diagram . it does not show the neutral switch but in the convertable wiring it shows it to be in series with the ignition switch and it is a 8 guage wire . i have not checked mine out yet . a 54 is easy because you can take the cover off behind the voltage regulator and a few nuts and clips and the plugs going to the steering colum which i have not found out how to get apart you can have the hole mess on the bench where you can play with it

after looking at both 54 wireing diagrams there seems to be a mistake in the book one shows the wire size to the selenoid to be 8 guage the other shows 10 guage i think the 10 would be correct

The scorched wireing is replaced along with rewireing the Safety switch, and everything is working as it should. Thanks for the help. Pushrod I have no doubt the wireing on the safety switch on this car is 8 gauge. It is huge. I still wonder why some one disconnected it.
Thanks again, Cleon