1974 Dodge Coronet with extra starter button

Found these 2 buttons underneath the steering wheel.
The silver one is a direct starter button and the black pull button is to ignite the starter button ....
The black wire from the starter button goes directly to the starter and looks like it's supposed to be there. (I removed the red lead wires)
And also there is a blue wire in the fuse box.
I want to remove these buttons and wires, but can I do that?

Wow, so no key was even needed to start the car?

One is a “remote start” button which is useful to crank the engine over without starting it. It helps diagnosing problems & is also used when a starter relay or neutral safety switch goes bad

moparedtn said:

Wow, so no key was even needed to start the car?

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I haven't tried, but I gues it just cranks the engine, because you need a key to for the steering lock and for the ignition. I got a bit of a scare when I pushed the button when I just got the car and was looking under the dash.

But can I remove these buttons? There is no need for them and it's not original or stock I guess.
And what about the blue wire on the fuse box?

I put one in my Charger back in the 80’s. It was to get the engine turning over before I switched on the ignition with the key. It was great for those 90 degree day hot starts after running into a store for a couple of minutes.

Of course you can remove them, but it sounds like you are worried that removing them might otherwise disable the car. If that is the case, start by disconnecting the wires one by one. If the car still starts and everything still works, proceed.

Maus said:

Found these 2 buttons underneath the steering wheel.
The silver one is a direct starter button and the black pull button is to ignite the starter button ....
The black wire from the starter button goes directly to the starter and looks like it's supposed to be there. (I removed the red lead wires)
And also there is a blue wire in the fuse box.
I want to remove these buttons and wires, but can I do that?
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It looks like someone didn't have a clue how to diagnose and fix it right so he rigged a switch or two in there. If you are going to put a "bump switch" in there to turn the engine over while adjusting valves, you put it under the hood.

Does the car start with just turning the key like factory set up ?

Maus said:

Found these 2 buttons underneath the steering wheel.
The silver one is a direct starter button and the black pull button is to ignite the starter button ....
The black wire from the starter button goes directly to the starter and looks like it's supposed to be there. (I removed the red lead wires)
And also there is a blue wire in the fuse box.
I want to remove these buttons and wires, but can I do that?
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WOW....it's amazing just how many stupid people are allowed to modify the car's wiring based on hearsay opinions and "my buddy suggested this change because he read it in a magazine article" and the former owner actually hacked up the wiring to modify it...unbelievable......but the real question is: WHY??? just my opinion......
BOB RENTON

I haven't got the slightest clue of why the previous owner installed those buttons.
Just like toolmanmike says, those buttons should be under the hood for service. Actually, they shouldn't be on the car at all.
The ignition key works fine.
The previous owner was from Belgium, what more can I say. ;)
I shall remove the wires one by one and see what happens.
I guess the blue wire on the fuse box is for powering the acc button.
What a mess.

That might have been a previous owners way of bypassing the seatbelt-starter interlock system if it became troublesome.

All that trouble.

Daliant said:

That might have been a previous owners way of bypassing the seatbelt-starter interlock system if it became troublesome.

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The only plausible reason for all that trouble.

So, today I installed a new voltage limiter, but that didn't make a difference. I wonder if it is the correct one. The fuel and temperature gauges still aren't working, together with all the warning lights, like the high beam, parking brake and oil pressure lamp.
The dash lights all work, together with the alternator gauge.
I changed all the lamps, also the warning lamps.

I did remove the starter/crank button, the blue wire from the fuse box, and the other switch, which was for a now removed fog lamp on the rear bumper.
It was connected to the orange wire just by twisting it and not even soldering it.

The key switch works fine, so nothing is lost by removing those switches.
But I did find a few other things that aren't correct.
First the minor things.
Now, I bought this car last November, so I haven't got a clue what the previous owners did to it.

The key and seat belt warning buzzer is disconnected.
Also, all the connectors beneath the front seat are disconnected.
I guess somebody must have really hated the seatbelt interlock system.



The original connector with the red and purple wires for the ashtray lighter was disconnected and they've installed a green (and black) wire and connected it to the radio lead. I've repaired the radio lead the correct way by soldering it.
I removed the green wire, but found that the original wires were there but not connected. They go to the 3 wire red connector but that one isn't connected to anything.





The radio capacitor isn't connected, and I don't know where it should be connected to.


And now for the big one, look what I found beneath the steering column.....

Maus said:

And now for the big one, look what I found beneath the steering column.....
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That’s shocking! A burned up ignition switch Molex connector.

Thanks for that video!
Those Anderson Power Pole connectors look very good, that might be a good fix.
At my job (Caterpillar) we use Deutsch Connectors and I can get these very easily with the right pliers and everything. They're used everywhere and we have them with 8 pin connectors, but I have to check if they can handle the current for the starter switch.
I hope this will help get the lights and gauges working again.

Voltage limiter replaced and still non working gauges… probably death gauges. You can test them feeding the studs with a 1,5 volts battery to check if needle moves. If not, they are death. A 4.5 volts power adaptor like an old cell phone charger will work too.

Most of the times with a Voltage limiter failure, the gauges get death. This is because most of the times the Voltage limiter failure makes to keep points closed feeding with full 12 volts when they are designed t work with 5 volts.

How a voltage limiter fails? Missing ground or points stuck. Voltage limiter can miss ground not just by an external fail but also an internal ground fail.

The capacitor terminal inserts into the center provision for the voltage limiter at PCB, then fits the limiter. Normally gets a cardboard to keep isolated from an accidental short with limiter chassis



Ammeter and cluster lights (pilots and illumination) are independent from the VL. But if the brake and oil lights are lighting on, it means the VL is also getting voltage. Since both get the same 12 volts source.

The blue jumper wire at fuse box. That fuse is as far I recall for the Ign1 circuit devices, such as cluster gauges ( voltage limiter on standard cluster 72/74 B bodies ) and brake/oil lights, seatbelt warning system, and some other accesories (electric trunk latch for example). If the jumper is there could be due a fail into the wire crimped to the fuse clip on back of fusebox. This fuse is not attached to any buss bar on back, but wired on both ends.

The 3 female bullet terminals read lead with pink wire around the speaker is batt source. Not allways used. It depends on accesories to the car. It should get for example the glove box light, map light and stuff like that.

Radio gets its own plug around, it should get one T shaped with an orange and red wire… these are positive and dial backlight.

The source for the Radio is shared to the Hazzard flasher. This is so true that with engine off and hazzards on you can heard how the Radio volume get reduced on every hazzard blink LOL. The plug for the Radio on dash side should get in fact a black wire spliced into the red one. This black wire is in fact the one running to the flasher.

About all the 74 interlock system. There are better ways to jump/bypass it if not wished, still keeping the warning system in working order but being able to crank up the engine. Dunno if you, but I love to keep all the functions in working order. And so far so good I have being able to get it.

The burnt spots at the ignition switch plug. Is REALLY WEIRD, black and blue burnt but red still surviving. This points me out on Accesories added incorrectly sourced. Black is Acc, and blue is Ign1 (causality or not, same source for the jumper wire at fuse box). But Red is the MAIN input source. So how BOTH outputs can get burnt before the INPUT which carries BOTH signals… hell, dunno. The input should have suffered first, EXCEPT on a straight short into those circuits. I can see the Red cavity yellowed but not fully burnt.

Being on your shoes, I would return everything to the factory conditions and if wishing some mod, will begin from there.

We are on same continent, but dunno If I could go to NL to help you out personally

About interlock system

Do you have the control box still on car? If so… Blue or orange? It should be held by a vertical bracket down the dash, between glove box and ashtray… with two white plugs attached.




Do you still have the interlock reset button? Should be at a side of the ECU on engine bay. Metal box with a red push button.

Wow, thanks for the help! I really appriciate that.
Yes, I do want to put everything back to it's original condition.

I'll try to test the gauges with a battery cell, that's a good tip. I hope they're not fried, the warning lamps aren't working eather, but I'll check.
How do I do that? Just put a battery agains the studs with the positive side and one finger on the negative of the battery?
I think the blue wire on the fuse box was meant to power the switch to the fog lamp on the rear bumper. I removed it.
I'll check the back of the fuse box, haven't looked at that yet. I'll also replace the fuses, they look ok, but just to make sure.
It's strange that the fuses still look intact, eventough the connecter got fried, that's weird indeed.

Radio and flasher works fine. The cigarette lighter isn't connected. Somebody splitted the red wire from the radio feed and put the lighter on that feed. There are no wires coming out of the 3-pin red connecter at the speaker.

Don't know for sure if the interlock control box is still there. I did see a small circuit board on the side of the glove box. I will take some pictures and check.
The interlock reset button is still connected under the hood.

If pilot lights ( brake and oil ) are not working it could be missed positive (same that feeds the VL) or missed senders.

Oil sender on engine bay. You can ground the wire and should light up

Brake sender… this light gets two signals: emergency/parking brake and brake fluid dist block signal if some pressure fail. You can ground this wire at brake fluid distributor. Well in fact, this wire on engine bay gets a female plug to test the light.

The round multipin plug at PCB could be also get some pins loosen from PCB. (BEING THERE DONE THAT)

You can also check for voltage at the round multipin plug, it gets two blue wires. One traced and the other not.

Not traced is the gas sender signal

Traced one should be the hot 12 volts signal coming from the mentioned fuse on fuse box, which at the same time comes from Ign1 circuit.

No warning lights and not operative gauges shares a common fail, this missed 12 volts signal with key in RUN.

TESTING GAUGES WITH DC SOURCE…
YES, feed the studs with a power cell. No matter the fields or terminals to which stud. The gauge is a coiled bimetallic piece which gets heated with power. Then expands or contracts accordingly to the voltage (sender variation)

No more than 5 volts. 5 volts will get to the higher reading. I have even used a 9 volts batt several times, but just for a couple of seconds to keep it safe from fry it. Is just to know if needle moves. It it does, is in working order.

The VL must be grounded. The multipin conector gets a wired ground to a dash frame provision with a C nut and a screw, but chassis ground to the cluster housing helps… just in case dash wire ground is missed or pin is loosen at PCB