While removing all the cruise control junk from my 83 Firebird I noticed these two wires that were cut and connected together.

The part they plugged into was part of the cruise system and I removed it.

These two wires disappear into the main harness. Where do they go? Why do you think it was cut like this?

 

The thing they were cut off of is the neutral/clutch safety switch for the starter.

Probably the usual irrational PO who bought himself a new pr of dykes, and then all the sudden, every wire in the world just looked WAY too long. Then I guess those particular ones just got in his way right then.

 

Haha that makes sense! The white box it was plugged to was hanging by one loose screw and obviously wasn't doing anything!

Where do they go? I'm ocd about removing useless wiring to simplify things. Rather just connect them together at the source!

-semi rational current owner

 

How about, just put it back like it belongs? (as best you can... i.e. put the clutch switch back, hook the wires back up)

 

For what? Who starts a car in gear? lol

 

You want to hear one quick example where sofa is spot on with his advice ?


Now , I know everybody who jumps out a standard shift's starter safety switch always says "But no one drives my car except me , and I know it's jumped out , so I'll never have a problem"

But , you live in Massachusetts ..... So do I . And I know that when you get your inspection sticker , the place you get it will not allow you to drive the car into the bay yourself , an employee of the establishment always drives it in themselves claiming both state law and insurance regulations prohibit customers driving their own cars in and out of the bay .

So , Mr. sticker guy gets into your car , thinks it's in neutral and hits the key , and your car lurches forward on the starter and squashes his fellow employee between your car and the car the fellow employee was working on .

Think this is so far fetched ?

THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED AT THE GARAGE WHERE I GET MY STICKER , ABOUT AN HOUR BEFORE I GOT THERE ONE DAY FOR MY STICKER !!!!

Needless to say , I ended up getting my sticker a few days later , when things had somewhat settled down at that garage and they got a temporary replacement for the guy who got his leg broken ......

 

I never park in gear, that's what the parking brake is for. Got a sticker two weeks ago, no accidents!

I am, literally, the only one who'll ever sit in that seat till the car is dust. Not worried.

Now, if I could locate a 1983 Firebird FSM that'd be sweet! At least I'd have some wiring diagrams.

 

Don't bet on that.

All it takes is ONCE. When you're working on it, when something unusual is going on, whatever, just ONCE. ONE TIME and it's all over with. The car is through a wall, off a bridge Teddy Kennedy, off the jack stands, hits another car in the parking lot, whatever. Then it's too late.

Put the car back together RIGHT. NO hack jobs. If you find a hack, FIX IT. ALWAYS. It'll pay off in the long run.

 

Nah, not hunting down and figuring out all these switches and stuff. Car has been like this over ten years, just wanting to clean up excess wiring.

 

He's on the East Coast, I'm on the West Coast....Never the twain shall meet. Just in case, I'm not parking near any 3rd Gens.

My Acura doesn't have a clutch interlock switch. Don't park near it either.

 

With air brakes, yes. Otherwise, the parking brake is for support, for added security, not for sole security. You should always park with your manual transmission in gear AND with the parking brake applied, too. If the parking brake somehow gets released, as can happen with mechanical parking brakes, while you're away from the car, and your transmission is in neutral, then your car WILL roll away, guaranteed, unless chocked or curbed. And I'm pretty sure that, at one time or another, when someone has said something like, "that will never happen," it happened to them.

Of the two, I'd trust the transmission to hold the car safely before I'd trust the parking brake, but best with both. Cars with automatic transmissions don't get parked in neutral, "secured" only by the parking brake. For autos, it's Park + parking brake. And for manuals it's Reverse + parking brake, but any gear is better than none. Don't want to see anyone's car roll away.

 

Guy I work with bypassed that safty switch to install a remote start using the same mindset that he never leaves it in gear blah blah blah.
Well, the did one and accidently.started.the truck and it drove off, jumped up on a small trailer and smashed into the back of one of our bucket trucks at work, destroyed the front end and damaged the suspension on one side.

Don't cheap out, fix the switch.

 

As I said, it's been over ten years without issue. I get what you're saying but... meh.

I'll just trace the wires and find where they end up.

 

Ok , so , your not going to properly repair it . Got it .

Now , moving past that , why the need to trace anything then ? The yellow one comes from the ignition switch and the purple one goes to the starter . The reason they're different colors is that there is supposed to be a safety switch in between them . If they are not on a proper switch , or jumped together like they are , your car will not crank the starter when you turn the key . There is no "shortening" of them required , there is no "OCD" to be placated here , since your not gonna fix it right , tape it up , tuck it up among all the other wires , and leave it the hell alone .

How hard can that be ?

 

Correct. Glad we're finally on the same page.

OCD as in, obsessive about making sure errant wires aren't present that may short something out. Plus I like the cleanliness of reducing clutter.

Thanks for the info.

 

Somehow, OCD always means to me, putting things back RIGHT. Not, hack it all up some more. Hack on top of hack is THE EXACT OPPOSITE of OCD. The cleanliness of an UNHACKED-UP car.

We need a smily on this site like they have on some others; a Jeffrey Dahmer saw, so we can humorously indicate "hack" when we see one.

In case you can't tell, I advocate putting it back like it came... RIGHT.

 

Yep , several of us have given him the right advice to put it back correct and if he's not willing to properly repair his car who knows , maybe it will rise up and bite him in the butt . And if it does , my guess is that he won't be coming here telling us about it .

 

True dat... or if he does, he'll blame it on someone/thing else, as is so prevalent these days. Few people have the testicular fortitude anymore to own up to the consequences of their own bad decisions.

I have NEVER understood this whole "clean up the [fill in the blank]" thing, when what it REALLY means is, hack the car to the absolute bare minimum and beyond, and then hack/patch BACK whatever got too screwed up to work in the process. "Clean up the [fill in the blank]" is usually just shorthand for "I'm too lazy to do it right so I'm going to rationalize hacking the car into oblivion and put a nice warm fuzzy word on it so I don't have to feel so guilty". I cannot BEGIN to count the number of cars whose slide toward the junkyard went from a 1° incline to a 45° one that way. Or the number of posts on here from people who buy cars unsuspecting of this sort of thing, and want help undoing it. It's just NO WAY to treat a car. Yeah, d00d OWNS it, and has "the right" to do it; but just because you have "the right" to do something, doesn't automatically make it "the right" thing to do.

I hope he reconsiders. If not, I have nothing to offer; he is beyond help.

 

Never change Sofaking, you keep the forum entertaining.