My 1995 F150 5 speed has had problem starting for quite sometime due to the switch not making contact. It has become nearly impossible to push the clutch in far enough to get it to work. I realize the problem lies in the pedal assembly being worn out. I don't want to replace that since the truck is about worn out anyway and was involved in a frame bending accident a month and a half ago :-( Long story short, the insurance company thought it would be better to fix than total.

Anyway, does anyone know how to override the switch, what wires to cross anything? I haven't really looked at it and may be able to figure it out, but thought I would ask first

Thanks,
Keith

 

something went wrong with the nuetral safety switch on my truck and i bypassed the whole thing by running one wire from the solenoid and one wire from the fuse block to a button. so to start my truck now i have to turn the key all the way then push a button; pretty cool actually.

 

I beleive you just pull it off and connect the two wires. This will cause the truck to start with the clutch in or out.

 

If I remember, there are more than one set of contacts on that switch. Make sure you only jump out the one that goes to the starter. If you jump the one that goes to the cruise, you could have bad things happen.

 

Maybe you can get away from any wiring by tapeing the switch closed.

 

I believe the switch mechanism is fairly inexpensive and I know it's easy to change. If some other part is worn-out I would check a salvage yard. Most likely it's the switch.

It is much more satisfactory to have it work as designed than rigged up. I am speaking from experience. I am notorious for rigging things to make them work, but after all is done, it is better to do it right the first time.

Winford

 

Yeah, I should probably fix it the right way. But the truck has 225k miles on it and it was involved in a pretty hard collision and the insurance company fixed it It creaks, rattles and generally drives like crap now. I still haven't received the $936 rental fee or the $85 towing money that I had to pay out of my pocket from the insurance company yet, so I am waiting for that before I get anymore involved in getting the truck taken care of. We eventually are gonna buy a new F350 so I am just trying to keep this one going.

But anyway, thanks for the replys.

 

 

This applies to the 1987 thru 1989 f-150 trucks. I pulled out the schematics in the Haynes manual for the F-150 and solved this problem.

There are six wires on this plug in connector that contains the clutch Interlock switch, (this Interlock Switch is attached to the clutch hydraulic plunger piston near the top of the clutch pedal stalk underneath the firewall inside the drivers compartment). The two wires closest to the Firewall are both Red and lite blue, the third wire needed here is the last wire in the connector furthest away from the firewall. This wire is gray and yellow. You need to cut, strip, and jumper these three wires together to by pass the clutch interlock switch. You may need to trim back some of the plastic casing that this wire bundle is in to see all these wires. I would leave an inch and a half of wire sticking out from the back of the plug in connector in case someone wants to re-enable this annoying feature. I would also either solder this connection and or twist the 3 wires together tightly and use some of that Liquid Electrical Tape that Harbor Freight sells.

Now I can just put the truck in neutral (its a 4 speed) and start it like a normal old clunker. I know the feds are trying to moron proof trucks with these types of features but I try and not let morons use this truck.

DS

 

The automatic trucks have the socket for the manual clutch switch wired in. When useing an automatic, they put a plug in there that joins together the wires mentioned in a previous post, so just go to a wrecking yard, get the plug, pull the socket out of the clutch switch from the wrecked automatic and put it into your socket. It will now allow you to start your truck.

 

I think you may be a little late bob......

 

Bob, you weren't late, but early. Thanks very much, I'm going to try this too as I've been dealing with clutch interlock bull**** on and off for several years.

I know I'm new to this forum, and I don't think anyone here will check this... but if you're reading this and thinking about posting:

Stop wasting our time and yours saying "just fix it right" when you haven't the first clue about the problem. What good does it do to answer a question "how do I bypass the clutch interlock switch", with "don't, replace the switch"? I can imagine several legit reasons for needing to bypass this switch... one of those reasons being "cause I feel like it". Your posts really bung up an otherwise good diagnostic site, neglect to respect other members' decision making, and show everyone how you are the sort of person who seems to know the answer even though you don't understand the question.

To make up for this annoying scolding I'm delivering, I promise to actually take and post pictures and a proper description of how to bypass this clutch interlock switch. It seems pretty obvious to me that plenty of our trucks will need this after getting old and/or wrecked. Also, those of us who are working on this switch are smart enough to know why we're pushing the clutch when we turn the engine over. If you have a 16-year-old driver who can't grasp transmission and clutch concepts, then don't put them behind the wheel of the 7.5 liter manual dually whether it has the switch or not. DUH.

 

WTF?


Uhm, Einstein? The OP is making an informed choice to (temporarily?) bypass a safety system, on a truck that (hopefully, given it's apparent frame-integrity issues) is soon coming off the road. The OP seems cognizant of the fact that the clutch interlock was put there for a valid reason.

Have you NEVER had your foot slip off the clutch, accidentally, when you've had oil or mud on your boot? If not, maybe you're not workin' hard enough.... The point is, the clutch interlock is put there because, in the main, it will prevent more trouble than it causes. (IIRC, it's even adjustable, for those of us that can figure out how to do it....)

But SOME PEOPLE (again, obviously not the OP, here) are ignorant of the purpose of certain systems, be they a safety measure, or ANY part/system on our trucks, and therefore do not consider the possible bad results that can occur when those systems are bypassed/jury rigged. Such people BENEFIT from having their consciousness raised, by others advising AGAINST DOING SOMETHING RISKY, that they may have been considering. Once the purpose of a system is explained, and the positives and negatives are considered, many APPRECIATE the wisdom of those that have gone before them.

If you don't want to read well-reasoned advice on the best, most advisable way to repair these trucks, then I would say you are not in the right forum. (Are you sure you're not a "bow tie" man?) Of course, for someone to actually benefit from the good advice that is available here, A PERSON MUST BE CAPABLE OF LEARNING NEW INFORMATION.

You, my friend, may feel that the bolded description, above, does not apply to you--I know what my first impression is on that issue, from your first post...

In light of your very first post being a chastisement of members in good standing, for their offering of SOUND, SAFETY ADVICE in response to a member's query, let me be the first to NOT welcome you to this forum....

Oh, and btw? This is not a good reason:

Here's a scenario: you stop for coffee, truck on the street, keys in ignition. You go into the men's room while your order is being filled. Some emergency occurs out front--a fire hydrant is needed, a fender-bender, etc...--and a 20 y.o. cop/fireman jumps in your truck, to move it, because you can't be found. They twist the key and slam some person/baby carriage, etc..., into another vehicle.

Are people going to blame the 20 y.o., who's never even seen a vehicle WITHOUT a clutch interlock, before?

Or are the injured party's relatives (or the baby's mom?) going to blame the guy who hacked his truck's safety mechanism for the simple reason of:

Great first post....

Big Six

 

dude you need to chill out and yes the 20yo would be blamed because he is a ******* if he jumps in a truck that's stick without knowing to push the clutch in before you start it, i'm not saying that people shouldn't caution people on things that they are about to do but i just think they be supportive and help them do it, if you recall when i asked about how to carb my truck all i got was negitive feedback and it was pissing me off because i didn't care that people didnt think i could do it or didn't want me to do it i just wanted to carb that bitch and now i've got a BADASS truck that goes against popular thinking, so i see where the op is coming from

 

Does the computer do anything else with the input from this sensor? Does it raise or drop idle at all? I have noticed if I lightly hover my foot on the clutch at a stop light (which I have a bad habit of doing) my idle picks up. It didn't think it was enough pressure to disengage the clutch at all.