push-button integration into ingnition circuit?

[surfingfreeman]

anyone ever just put in a pushbutton inline into the proper part of the ingnition wiring/circuitry to bypass that part of the switch, every once in a while my ignition switch fails to send juice to the starter and i am forced to compression start the vehicle, it was fun in my more youthful years however now not so much.
Mike

[surfingfreeman]

but of course that should read ignition

[wikkid]

Are you sure it's a switch problem? It could also be that your starter solenoid is having problems, and might need a rebuild. In any case, it would seem to make sense to set up the starter circuit with a relay, activated by the ignition switch, so that the start-up current flow would not go through the fairly fragile switch.

[james124]

[quote][/quote]to set up the starter circuit with a relay, activated by the ignition switch, so that the start-up current flow would not go through the fairly fragile switch.

This is a terrific idea. Can you give us a heads-up on how this could be done? Where would the live power come from?
Thanks!

[wikkid]

Hmmm - how do we go from idea/concept to reality? It's not as if I've done it myself yet - it just seems to make sense. It's just the solenoid power going through the switch, as I understand it, not the starter current. I will have to study the wiring diagrams to see how that setup works, and also, to see if there is a way to set up relays to work the other current flows for electricals that normally flow through the switch. Mind you, I'm far from being an electrical whiz - I just try to work things out and ask questions of people who know more than I do to help me get through.

But to get back to Mike's OP, the switch is sending power to the solenoid on the starter, to engage the starter, but the starter is not getting its feed through the switch.

Mike, check the wire going to the solenoid, and be sure it's well connected.
Otherwise, the solenoid might not be getting enough power through the switch to engage the starter. When it happens, do you hear a click of engagement, or not? As long as your battery is truly strong, if the problem is there intermittently, you may need to find a way to hook up full power to the solenoid through a big enough relay. I guess the red wire from the ignition switch would ground through the relay, allowing the full current direct flow through to the solenoid.

I don't know these spiders enough yet to know if people run additional fused power wire(s) all the way up front directly from the battery to take care of how you would power the solenoid and all the lights and accessories thru relays.