The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 12 volt ignition switch

I am trying to install a new ignition switch, and have burnt up two of the cheap ones I purchase from autozone. They are rated for 15amps.

I have it wired up to give power to both the coil and the starter.

Any idea what could be causing them to burn up?

Switch has three connections. Battery in, Coil out, and solinoid out to the starter.

Thanks in advance.

Foot start?

those switches are generic for fork lifts and tractors, should work fine if you've got it wired right - using 6V car [solenoid] starter?

Bill

Truck didnt come with a foot starter. I dont think the starter is 6 volt since i have got it to run several times and the rest of the truck is 12 volt.

6V starters work fine on 12V they just take twice as much current as a 12V one would .... frying lighter 12V contacts

a stock starter for a '50 would be foot start, solenoid/key start were only found on 12V trucks, which would require a flywheel change for your original engine, and 6V cars - but maybe it's not an original engine? certainly not the original starter

Bill

The engine is off a 1958-62 according to the code on the side of the engine.

well, may be from a car, or after 60 could be from a key start truck, not sure why it'd fry the generic switch if you have nothing else wired into it - why not get a 60-66 truck ignition switch and wire it properly, then you'll have an ACCessory terminal to boot

Bill

Do you know what the 60-66 amp rating is?

have never seen that spec'd - have never been concerned with the amp rating of a stock ignition switch, especially with respect to just starting and ignition, which GM designed them for - ditto for the generic cheapies, one of which has been starting my forklift for ages

if you have everything wired correctly those simple circuits will not cause a stock switch of any year to burn out, maybe you're putting the actual starter load thru the switch rather than just the solenoid activation?

Bill

Red,

Thanks for your reply let me describe how i have it wired. I have my hot off the battery go the starter. I then have the power running from that point to the battery point on the ignition switch. I run a wire from the ignition point on the switch to the coil. I run a wire back to the starter. I am not sure how this could be wrong, but would gladly like to learn if it is.

Funny thing is it worked for several months, and then in the past two weeks i burnt up two of them..

Could the ground to my bell housing be causing a problem? The plastic surrounding the cable is partially cracked.

Another thing i thought is maybe the ignition switch doesn't like touching the metal on my dash. I have it bolted in the key hole.

as long as the "wire back to the starter" goes to the solenoid, that sounds right .... grounding the switch case shouldn't matter, having a bad ground on the starter could make it draw double or triple the current it normally would, or even make it 'find' a ground via the switch case, so yes, that'd be the first fix, it's necessary to have excellent connections on all grounds, very clean attachment points, and preferably externally toothed star washers to dig in to both the cable end and the grounding metal

Bill

Thanks red I will try that.

thanx guys sounds like a plan