83 300D Neutral Safety Switch or Ignition Switch

[fruitmeister420]

My trusty 300D almost left me stranded two days ago. I drove it about 20 miles in order to get new tires for it. I turned it off to go into the shop, and when I returned I had no response from the ignition switch.Only the click of the glowplugs and maybe another faint click, not sure. When I left the house there was a lot of snow piled up at the end of the drive way and there was a loud thud as I rolled over it. I did manage to get the vehicle started by towing it, my god what an experience. The streets and parking lots were wet, snowy and icy. the car was fishtailing behind they guy towing me, who was driving like a maniac btw. These care never fail to amaze me. We towed it because I didn't know about the terminal block in the firewall. That would have been so much easier. However having read up on the subject I did learn about the terminal block and tried jumping it, the starter cranked right over. So it is my understanding the the starter and solenoid must be ok, A big relief. But now, I'm reading about the Neutral Safety Switch and how to jump it in order to test if that is the problem. The info I've read says
"Above the accelerator pedal is a 4-wire plug with a harness that runs down to under the accelerator pedal and to the transmission tunnel. Unplug it, jumper across the two purple wires in the female plug and try to start again. If it starts, you need a NSS.”
The only thing I see around the accelerator pedal is the kick down switch for the tranny.

Can any one point out the location of this plug?

I'm suspecting that the thud I heard damaged the NSS. Additionally the NSS wasn't working properly previously, as the car would start in drive.
But for now, if I can at least work around the issue and not have to crawl under the car in the snow. Then maybe if I talk real nice to the guys at the tire shop they might let me look at it when it's on the hoist.

[mach4]

Originally Posted by fruitmeister420

But now, I'm reading about the Neutral Safety Switch and how to jump it in order to test if that is the problem.

I don't know about a plug under the dash, but you can certainly jumper the NSS at the transmission end if need be. In the image below, the two connectors (purple arrows) closest to the square key (yellow arrow) are the starter circuit, the other ones being the backup lights.



You can remove the plug and jumper the two female plug parts to test.

Hopefully someone has a description where you can do this at the other end of the harness in the cabin or firewall or someplace more accessible.

You might test the backup lights. If they're out too, it might just be that the plug has come out of the transmission or the arm (or pin) has broken or come out of the hole in the shift linkage.

[Graham]

At one time I had a similar problem. I would pull into gas station to fill up, and after that it wouldn't start. Had to push car out of way.

I changed the ignition switch and the neutral switch with no improvement. In the end, it turned out to be the starter. It just depended on where it happened to stop. And sometimes after a short cool off period it would start again.

Changed the starter and no problems sine ce then (about 12 years ago!)

[Flyin4now]

I have been having the same problem with my '85 300D. I believe the solenoid is not getting the full 12 volts needed for starting. I've checked NSS, ignition switch, etc. All check out OK. Do a search under my username to read some of my posts and all of the users replies.

I think I am going to wire in a Ford solenoid or some sort of 12 volt relay to the terminal block to avoid having to pop the hood and jump the terminal more than half the time.

Hope this helps.