I believe I have igntion switch prob. When key is turned to start, Alt guage seem to peg to left. about halfway through movement dash lights work. all the way forward and they go off. have stereo with anti code if battery is disconnected. It has been activated. Sol. will click a couple of times on first try, then nothing after that. tried to jump to no avail. 302 f-150 If it is switch, how to replace?

 

I do not think the switch is the problem, what you have is a bad conection at the battery, remove both terminals, and clean very good, check your battery and make sure it is charged.

The clue is the radio, the memory lead comes straight from the battery, if you are getting a theft code, this is caused when there is not power to the radio, i.e. not caused by the switch, but no memory feed from the battery.

advise what you find.

Dave

 

dave,
I only got a little time to look at it today before it started pouring rain. don't play with lightning here in Fla.!!! I cleaned the terminals and checked connections at pwr & grnds, (that I could fin/get to). I tried to start. got power to the dash at first, one small click under the hood and the nothing again. I can't get any indicators on dash to work again. Also, the dome light and the light under the hood go out and take about half a minute to build back up to full strenth.

 

I read a post from a guy that had a similar problem. He ended up using a test light (the kind with the needle sharp tip) to pierce through the insulation of the ground wire and the hot wire. He found that the hot wire (about a ten inch section) had deteriorated and turned to chalk. The voltage would drop off and not carry enough current to operate properly. Worth checking out... Chris

 

 

High there,was just reading about your problem and i'm not sure but i think your ignition switch has a a metal rod that runs down the steering colume to electrical box that is the actual switch.. I think you should take a look at that, good luck

 

 

24 years ago lmfao