ok guys, i hope one of yous can help me with this one. i finally went out and bought all the stuff i need for the 10k mod. i bought a switch too, it is an automotive switch. it has 3 prongs on the back. a ground, load, and power. how should u wire in the switch? should i wire it right to the resitor, just with a longer lead? and what prongs on teh switch do i use? i mean, i go to a tech highschool, and i know all this. haha, but its summer, and its been rough. thanks guys.

 

dont know what you want to do with that switch, just do the mod as shown here, your wire probably wont be blue\red but its the same one in the connector, cut it and splice it back together with the 10k resistor inline

 

I ran a wire into he cab and mounted the switch on the removable trim on the right side of the steering column. Just use the contacts that make or break the circuit. Small speaker wire works jout fine. Put it through one of the existing grommets. My truck idles rough with the unit in operation so i isolate the resistor.

 

The switch you have is one that has the light built in to it, isn't it?
Run your 12 volts to power your device on the power terminal.
Run power out of the switch to the device you are powering on the Load terminal.
Run the ground terminal to a ground to make the switch light up when it is on.
That is for a normal device that you would power in the normal sense.
I would save that switch for another application and just use a conventional switch with 2 leads for this mod. The light in the switch will affect the resistance in the circuit and if it is LED powered it won't work at all if you wire it backwards.

 

ok thanks guys, ill go get a normal switch.

 

the light shouldn'y have any effect on the cicuit, thats why the lighted switches have 3 wires instead of 2. and i still dont like the idea of a switch, if you do the mod properly a switch in there would cause a check engine light, if you dont want a constant 10k mod buy a potentionmeter instead of a switch

 

Well here is my take on the switch for what it's worth-

The switch could be in parallel or in series. Basically in series the wires would run into either the resistor or the switch,and then in to the other of the two, and nothing would flow if the switch was open, or off.

In parallel you would cut your wire that coonhunter pointed out, and on the end of that wire you would have a fork or a "Y" with one lead going to the resistor and the other lead going to the switch. After the wires come out of those 2 components they would come back together at the other side of the wire that was cut and would go from a "Y" back in to one.

If you wire the switch and resistor in parallel, then when the switch is open, the current has to flow through the resistor, there is no other path.
When the switch is closed, the current can bypass the resistor and flow directly through the switch with no resistance. Just like stock.
The light in the switch is a load and it will have a resistance value. It might not be much at all, but it is there.

There is also a version of this mod that uses the idle validation switch to turn the 10k off and on to give better idle quality, but it is a little more complex to do because it involves relays.

The lighted switches have three wires because there are 2 circuits in them. When it is open, one circuit goes from the incoming power source to the contacts. The other circuit branches off of the incoming lead and goes to the bulb/led in the switch, and then to the switch contacts.
When the switch is closed, the incoming power is connected to the Load terminal and goes out to the device being powered, but a portion of that power goes through the bulb/led and out on the ground terminal if it is hooked to a good ground.
Whether or not the load of the bulb/led is enough to make a difference I can't tell you. It does have a certain resistance value though.
I do know that many PCM circuits are far less than 12 volts, around 5, and a small amount of resistance can change the overall value of the circuit.
You can use just the power and load terminals and the bulb/led will not affect anything because current will only be able to flow through the bulb if you use the ground terminal.
IMO though, if you have one of the plastic bodied toggle switches they are not very reliable and not well made. I would get a new switch and be done with it.
My way is not the only way to do it by any means, but it's what I would do and why I would do it that way.

 

bobadan i couldnt have said that better,

"In parallel you would cut your wire that coonhunter pointed out, and on the end of that wire you would have a fork or a "Y" with one lead going to the resistor and the other lead going to the switch. After the wires come out of those 2 components they would come back together at the other side of the wire that was cut and would go from a "Y" back in to one.

If you wire the switch and resistor in parallel, then when the switch is open, the current has to flow through the resistor, there is no other path.
When the switch is closed, the current can bypass the resistor and flow directly through the switch with no resistance. Just like stock.
The light in the switch is a load and it will have a resistance value. It might not be much at all, but it is there. "

here is a diagram of what he just said, pretty much electricity will have to follow one of the 2 paths you give it, if the switch is closed that is the least path of resistance so the current will flow through the swithc and not the mod so she will run "stock" if you open the swithc then you are enabling the 10k resistor and boosting your high pressure oil, if you really wanted to get elaborate you could run a 3 position switch as in the second picture and have an off, 10k, 18k mod all in 1

 

cOOn could you please make an artistic diagram like thouse above with a potentiometer of 18K?, to understan all the variables of the mod.


thanks.

 

if you do the mod the old fashion way a switch won't do set a CEL it will just turn the mod off anytime you want it off. if you do the mod Joe's way you will have problems with a switch.

 

how will my way set a light? i am confused, i still cant figure how the old fashioned way works properly jammed in the back of the connector

 

if the mod is switched and done your way you will create an open in the sensor wiring. If you do it the old fashion (Bypass) and switch it all you do it turn off the bypass and the sensor will operate normally. The switch is to get rid of any rough idle or for diagnostic work. so it has its use but you just can't use a switch on your version of the mod or you will get a CEL just like you said earlier.

 

Much easier to just put in a $3- 10kpotentiometer then you only splice into wires going to pcm running resistence through the potentiometer and to turn off for better idle just dial down, works perfect on both my trucks .If you put on a switch to break the circuit when turned off it will die because computer will have no reading thinking it just lost oil pressure.I know this happens because one of my dials when cranked fully drops off the resistor inside and breaks circuit - instant shut down..

 

well i went to radioshack tonight on the way home and picked up an abundance of resistors, they didnt have a potentiometer that i wanted, only 0-10k, and no switches that would fit my criteria, i wanted a 3 position switch, all they have is 3 pos on-off-on. i will conduct some experiments as soon as i get the required switch

 

I just bougth the potentiometer (10K, they dont have 18K as cOOn said) and want to ask you if you put it in line like cOOns mod and how did you connected it, because it has 3 places in the upper part and 2 in the bottom, what are that for?, mine has a switch integrated and when is the switch on, thouse 2 in the back has continuity; and about the other 3 seems like the center is the comun and the other change from 0 to 10K, only in a different form, I mean, one ups or downs to clock wise and if you change to the other in viceversa (CCW). Other question a bougth one with 200 volts, is that ok? or I have to change for one with 150 v.? I hope I explain myself.