Neutral Safety Switch Woes

[Mike M.]

Just about through trying to get to TF on a '65 coupe. The Neutral Safety Switch did not work on this very original car. Although the original one looked ok I bought a new one (Volunteer Corvette). The operation of the NSS seems pretty straight forward, there are just a couple of wires to be hooked up. Well, it still does not work-the car can be cranked in gear. We have adjusted the NSS a bunch to see if it was somehow not making contact (with both the new switch and the old-which seems to have nothing wrong with it either.) Anyone have similar problems? Tks

[William C.]

Re: Neutral Safety Switch Woes

Let's start with the simple approach. Disconnect the wires from the NSS and try to crank. If it cranks, then someone has bypassed the switch downstream and you need to find that and repair it. If it doesn't crank, then the switch or the adjustment to activate the switch needs fixing. Should be relatively simple.

[Mike M.]

Re: Neutral Safety Switch Woes

After much work this NSS still does not work (both the old one which probably nothing was wrong with in the first place nor the new one) This should be simple but it is not. i don't know much about such but my two friends do and we are having difficulties getting this thing to work. The NSS wire should be showing about 12 volts at the connection near the distributor but it does not. It shows 6 to 8. We are thinking this is some sort of ground problem or perhaps something in the ignition switch. I don't know enough to talk intelligently about it but it is causing us grief. When the two wires that the NSS plugs into near the distibutor are plugged together (something that you would not do) the car cranks and runs fine. (The car came with this setup when I bought it 6/11) When these two wires are not plugged together the car will not crank. So the problem goes beyond just the NSS. The resistor on the firewall seems to be ok. Think the ignition switch could be the culprit here? Tks. Mike

[John H.]

Re: Neutral Safety Switch Woes

After much work this NSS still does not work (both the old one which probably nothing was wrong with in the first place nor the new one) This should be simple but it is not. i don't know much about such but my two friends do and we are having difficulties getting this thing to work. The NSS wire should be showing about 12 volts at the connection near the distributor but it does not. It shows 6 to 8. We are thinking this is some sort of ground problem or perhaps something in the ignition switch. I don't know enough to talk intelligently about it but it is causing us grief. When the two wires that the NSS plugs into near the distibutor are plugged together (something that you would not do) the car cranks and runs fine. (The car came with this setup when I bought it 6/11) When these two wires are not plugged together the car will not crank. So the problem goes beyond just the NSS. The resistor on the firewall seems to be ok. Think the ignition switch could be the culprit here? Tks. Mike

Mike -

Plugging those two in-line connectors on the purple wire together above the distributor is how all 4-speed cars were built - that purple wire circuit runs from the "S" terminal on the ignition switch, through that connector, to the "S" terminal on the starter solenoid; it feeds 12 volts to the starter when the key is turned to "Start".

On a Powerglide car, the in-line connectors are separated, and the one from the ignition switch gets the 12-ga. black/yellow wire to the NSS, and the other one (that goes to the starter) gets the 12-ga. brown wire from the NSS. The NSS is a simple single-pole switch - it's closed in Park and Neutral, and open in Reverse, Drive, and Low.

That purple circuit will only show power with the key in the "Start" position; if the engine cranks with the in-line connector plugged together (as it is on all 4-speed cars), the ignition switch is fine, and the problem is in the NSS or its two wires to the purple wire connectors.

[Mike M.]

Re: Neutral Safety Switch Woes

John: Thanks. We did not have any of that information. The problem must be downstream from those two connectors. We will work on it some more this weekend.

[Mike M.]

Re: Neutral Safety Switch Woes

I finally got to what we think is the 'bottom' of this NSS problem. We worked for many, many hours trying to get this 'simple' device to operate correctly (not let the car crank in gear). I had bought a new high $ correct S# starter for the car. We finally took it off and put the old starter back on. This allowed the NSS to work properly. We put the solenoid off the old starter on the new starter and this allowed the NSS to work also. So it would seem that the new solenoid had something to do with the problem. I bought a new soenoid and put on the 'new' starter and all seems well. The reading coming out of the NSS (also a new one) read as 7.5 volts (should be 10+?). This is too low we thought. However, it allows the new solenoid to engage and the NSS to function. In addition we found a bad connection in the old NSS, fixed and cleaned it and now it is working fine! I wish I had my $195 back for the new NSS (anyone need a discounted new NSS?) I hope this makes some sense as I am over my head in trying to explain the problem and solution. Mike