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Starts in all gears

Garys1969RR

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My 70 Dodge Dart automatic starts in all gears, should only start in neutral or Park. All the wires are hooked up, will even still start when I unplug it from the transmission. It appears the switch has been bypassed, is there any way to tell which wire is bypassing the neutral safety switch? It looks like there is a black wire hooked up to the solenoid, along with the brown wire. And the yellow wire is hooked up too. But when I unplug either one of those two wires then it won't start.
 
The wire that comes up from the transmission should go to one corner of the starter relay. This is a ground wire (when in park or neutral). Easiest way to bypass the neutral safety switch is to simply wire a ground directly to this pin. If this is the case with your car, you should be able to easily 'unrig' this.
 
Anyone have a wiring diagram of how the neutral safety switch is wired up?
 
The wire that comes up from the transmission should go to one corner of the starter relay. This is a ground wire (when in park or neutral). Easiest way to bypass the neutral safety switch is to simply wire a ground directly to this pin. If this is the case with your car, you should be able to easily 'unrig' this.
Ok, thanks. I'll check to see if this black wire on there IS a ground wire. It is hooked to the brown contact in the corner of the starter relay. I don't think it belongs there . Have thought about cutting the black wire to see what happens. I can always re splice it, if need be.
 
Ok, checked the black wire that is also hooked to the brown wire, and it IS hooked up to ground. Is this the "rig" that makes it start in any gear? Here is a pic of the starter relay and wire connections.
20181018_203428.jpg
 
So when the trans is in park or neutral, the brown wire is grounded thru the neutral safety switch in the trans? Is that how the neutral safety switch operates?
 
I'm going to guess that somebody fabricated that in there as the switch might have failed. Disconnect and see if it starts. It shouldn't. Then hook it up and disconnect the black from ground. If it starts properly, the black was redundant. If it doesn't start, the switch is toast.

That's my guess.
 
I have disconnected the brown wire, and it won't start. Haven't removed the black wire yet, as I can't see where it is grounded, but will do that soon. I suspect that it won't start once I disconnect the black rigged wire. Which would mean the trans switch is bad, or the wiring to it, or poor connection. I intend to check the trans switch with an ohm meter. It should show continuity when in neutral. I suppose it would be the brown wire, and the ground wire. Is that the center one and one of the 2 outer ones? What color would the ground wire be on the connector, black?
 
I am not sure. I would have to look at my car tomorrow (1966 Coronet). I had to wire mine in as I installed a console with a newer trans. You are on the right path. The switch is likely toast. It should have 3 wires on it. There was a 1 wire switch, but I think it was 67 and back or so.
 
Oh, so it just grounds the brown wire at the trans to start it? That makes sense. I haven't got around to checking the back up lights yet. But everything else seems to work on the car.
 
I will look at mine tomorrow. I'm sure that's how it works. Like I said, my car never had the newer trans and so I think when I installed it, I was lead to use the 3 wire switch for lights.
 
The center wire of the three wires at the transmission NSS is the starter relay switched ground, should be brown with a yellow tracer. Should go to ground in neutral and park, open in all other gears.
 
On the 3-wire switch, the centre wire goes to ground when in PARK or NEUTRAL. Reason being that the 3-wire plug goes on either one of two ways.

The two outer wires 'switch' when REVERSE is selected - allowing reversing lights to be switched - as in power goes up one, and returns on the other. I cannot give you colours right now, but I recently did this on my A100.

IF the car still starts in any gear, you must adjust the linkage at the transmission - it is possibly only out by an 1/8" to 1/16". You will need an assistant to move the transmission lever while you make adjustments - otherwise you'll be up & down a lot. We did mine truck on a hoist and it took about 2 minutes.
 
Reverse lights are in earlier years, black and black traced on NSS harness at outer pins, and white and white traced inside the cab. Traced wires are AS FAR I RECALL, the energized line once you put the key in RUN or ACC, then returns into the solid color wire if tranny is in reverse. Maybe the traced are the return once activated not the input being this the solid color wire, I can't recall right now, but either way, works the same. Then becomes violet at the body harness up to rear lights.

On later years, colors changed on this harness with violet and some other color, ( can't recall which one, maybe black )

For the tranny ground in P or N allways brown traced yellow, on center pin
 
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About the black wire spliced on to the brown wire terminal at starter relay... it seems the safety ground is being bypassed? Mostly sure is grounded somewhere
 
Ok, got it fixed! Removed the extra black ground wire, checked the switch at trans and it all works! Hooked the plug back up, and now it will only start in park or neutral like it's supposed to. Learned a few things. Like, the brown wire with yellow tracer goes to the center terminal on the trans switch. Then when the trans is put into park or neutral this wire gets grounded, so the starter will then get power. Also, the back up lights work, too!
 
It's all quite simple. LOL. On this 1970 Dodge, everything still work's. Pretty much un touched except for changing the 318 to a 440, 904 to a 727, and the 8 3/4 rear end added. I like the cars that havent been modified from the factory too much. Thanks for all your help!
 
Update: Removed the black ground wire today, and discovered that it was hooked up to a switch that was hidden under the dash. So with the flip of the switch, it could be started in any gear. Not sure why this was needed, but it was in there.
 
Probably a half-baked attempt for theft guard. Switch off, won't start?
 
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