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Inertia switch surprisingly sensitive

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Old Feb 26, 2011 | 03:29 PM
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Inertia switch surprisingly sensitive

As I pulled in to park I slid only 3 or 4 inches and just kissed a snow bank, didn't even think anything of it. An hour later truck wouldn't start until I reset the inertia switch. Man that thing is sensitive!
 
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Old Feb 26, 2011 | 07:02 PM
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Huh...that's surprising to me. You must have hit it hard enough that you decelerated substantially faster than is possible with the brakes...

 
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Old Feb 26, 2011 | 07:30 PM
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Well in some fashion it must have been harder than "normal". Anyway, I'm posting this experience as food for thought to anyone facing a no start condition.....
 
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Old Feb 11, 2014 | 02:23 PM
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my truck got me stranded right in front of the local Autozone store last weekend lol. At first the truck would barely start and sort of blubber at below 500 rpms, gas pedal did nothing. This was just normal driving on surface streets too, I went to 3 other places too before I got stuck. Anyway I figured gee, maybe it's time to replace the fuel filter, so I did that right there in the parking lot, and after that it was 100% no start at all. Whatever fuel pressure was in the line was now gone and the pump is not working. I haven't tried the inertia switch yet nor looked at the replay behind the radio... I'm hoping its one of these 2 things and not the pump itself. My truck only has 64k miles on it hard to believe the pump would go out that soon?
 
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 06:23 AM
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It was a few years ago and not my truck, but I got stranded on a boat ramp. I backed the trailer into the water, my (former) father-in-law drove the boat onto the trailer, I secured the bow strap, winched the boat up tight, hopped into the truck, put it in drive and fed it some throttle....it sputtered and died.

We ended up getting towed off of the ramp by a 1 Ton Chev DRW (embarrassing). 90 minutes later our troubleshooting led us to the inertia switch.

That was a "WELL DUH" moment.
 
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 07:47 AM
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Where is this inertia switch?
 
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 09:25 AM
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Originally Posted by redford
It was a few years ago and not my truck, but I got stranded on a boat ramp. I backed the trailer into the water, my (former) father-in-law drove the boat onto the trailer, I secured the bow strap, winched the boat up tight, hopped into the truck, put it in drive and fed it some throttle....it sputtered and died.

We ended up getting towed off of the ramp by a 1 Ton Chev DRW (embarrassing). 90 minutes later our troubleshooting led us to the inertia switch.

That was a "WELL DUH" moment.
Happened to a friend and I several years ago in a 94 explorer, loading a boat jolted the sensor, but we did manage to figure it out luckily befoe we had to get towed off of the ramp.
 
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 12:00 PM
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well it is not my inertia switch. I can feel the little push button reset inside the kick panel and it's not tripped. Guess I'll be lifting the bed off this week to replace the pump
 
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 12:02 PM
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Originally Posted by PurerockRacing
well it is not my inertia switch. I can feel the little push button reset inside the kick panel and it's not tripped. Guess I'll be lifting the bed off this week to replace the pump
If your tank is mostly empty it would probably be easier to just drop the tank. I did the one on my Excursion in about two hours.
 
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 01:02 PM
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Originally Posted by spud57
Where is this inertia switch?
Passenger side kick panel area.
 
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Old Feb 13, 2014 | 03:47 PM
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I could not anything that would require a manual reset like we used to have in the fleet Crown Victoria's and Explorers I used to drive, but I did find this ..........

From page 321 of my owners manual 2012 F350

FUEL PUMP SHUT-OFF

In the event of a moderate to severe collision, this vehicle is equipped
with a fuel pump shut-off feature that stops the flow of fuel to the
engine. Not every impact will cause a shut-off.
Should your vehicle shut off after a collision due to this feature, you may
restart your vehicle by doing the following:

1. Turn the ignition switch to the off position and wait 10 seconds.
2. Turn the ignition switch to the on position.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to re-enable fuel pump.

Note: For vehicles equipped with a diesel engine, see the Diesel
supplement for additional Fuel Pump Shut-off reset instructions.
 
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Old Feb 15, 2014 | 10:03 PM
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FYI... The fuel tank should always be kept at 1/4 tank or more to keep the fuel pump from burning out as it is cooled by the fuel that is in the tank... or it could fail from overheating..
 
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Old Feb 16, 2014 | 12:58 AM
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yeah they are pretty sensitive, mine tripped after a 35mph head on...poped it back on and drove it a few blocks to load up on the tow truck.
 
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Old Feb 17, 2014 | 11:41 AM
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Originally Posted by HeaveyDutyMan
FYI... The fuel tank should always be kept at 1/4 tank or more to keep the fuel pump from burning out as it is cooled by the fuel that is in the tank... or it could fail from overheating..
Never ever read that in the owner's manual or any of the owner's manuals on my farm tractors either.
 

Last edited by schrod; Feb 17, 2014 at 11:42 AM. Reason: omitted smartass remark from text.
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