Faulty Ignition Switch
 

I put a new subject on this, but it is really a follow-up to a previous thread.

WHAT COULD BE SYMPTOMS OF A FAULTY IGNITION SWITCH??

There has been suggestion that having a slow starter could be one. How about goofy stuff with dash lights? All of a sudden my emergency flasher indicator (not the exterior lights themselves) flashes for no GOOD reason.

It just seems like I have heard the ignition switch being a possible villian in lots of situations........some that would otherwise really seem unrelated.

the green signal indicator or the red 'you have a brake problem' flash?

RED

Slow starter cranking would be difficult to be an ignition switch problem. I won't say "can't be", but I think it would be difficult.

That said, just about anything electrical--particularly intermittent all-or-nothing problems--can have their source in the ignition switch. It controls quite a few functions, and when multiple electrical things fail at the same time it is definitely something to check.

--DD

clean fuses, check voltages. ( an analog meter hooked up to circuits while driving help me to find a bad key switch. a digital one is to hard to concentrate on while driving. )

check your brake fluid and handbrake switch and wire for shorts. the dash lights comming on for no reason is perplexing. might be a bad headlight switch or demonic possesion in the gauges. check the dash/all grounds.

stick a meter on the clutch and throttle cables to the ground on the battery.

" 914 Poltergeist" check E brake switch, sometimes the wires break loose and they short against the body of car!

I wish to meekly give an update.........the flashing brake light stopped when I tapped the gauge. The starting is still a problem.........but I think I just had a loose wire on the gauge. I'm getting frustrated.

Hey Potter,

Just a personal opinion, but it doesn't sound like the ignition switch to me. My experience with a bad ignition switch was that all the lights worked, etc, but when I turned the key, NOTHING. Then I turned the key off and on a 20 friggin' times and swore under my breath (doesn't help by the way :D )and it finally turned over at normal speed. As Dave said below it's kind of all-or-nothing. It either spins the starter normally or not at all... Now that's just one experience, maybe someone else has seen different....

I'm not familiar with the other thread, but a slow starter can be a lot of things. How's the transmission ground strap? Tight? Clean?

Slow cranking is pretty much always a problem in the high-current path somewhere. Battery, battery + wire, solenoid, starter, tranny case, ground strap, chassis, battery ground wire.

--DD