I had one friday, towed in, no start after stopping for fuel. I thought, oh no, stc fitting. Turned out, it was the inertia switch was bad. Those never go bad!

They do....


I had one go out on my 89 ranger once.

Apparently, it is really rare though.

blacksnapon said:

I had one friday, towed in, no start after stopping for fuel. I thought, oh no, stc fitting. Turned out, it was the inertia switch was bad. Those never go bad!

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Really? Never go bad? Yeah right. Where were you in 1981 when Ford started putting these on? The switches were terrible, a shopping cart tapping the bumper set then off. Prolly 90% of the 1000's of vehicles towed into dealers service departments in the 1980's came from supermarket parking lots. The same switch was used thru 1988 = E1AZ-9341-B. Never go bad...LOL!

The manuals I have all say repeatedly, when faced with a "does not start" situation, make sure the inertia switch has not been tripped. That being said, tripping is not necessarily going BAD, is it? I mean, sensitive, maybe, but the ones I've seen all have a reset.

Nan had an '89 town car that had the switch hidden in the trunk. her kids would slam that damn thing and trip it once a month. I HATE KIDS

lenny1carl said:

Nan had an '89 town car that had the switch hidden in the trunk. her kids would slam that damn thing and trip it once a month. I HATE KIDS

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That would 'splain your relationship with Ryan...

i love the easy ones vince. these are very few and far between though.

mrfixit said:

The manuals I have all say repeatedly, when faced with a "does not start" situation, make sure the inertia switch has not been tripped. That being said, tripping is not necessarily going BAD, is it? I mean, sensitive, maybe, but the ones I've seen all have a reset.

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From the customers standpoint they were bad, so I'll just call them over sensitive. Of course if the owners ever read the owners manual, they would have known the cause and effect. Owners actually reading their manuals (now is NO different), were few and far between.

The one in my ranger would not stay working. It would "trip" all the time for no real reason. It was a bad switch. Replaced it and that was the end of the problem. Yes...I read the manual. LOL

I don't know how many years ago that was, but it has not given us any more issues.

Dad has a little foreign car. It would not start. I found the switch (in the manual). The reset would not work, so I smacked it. Every time it would not start he smacked the switch again and it would start. We had to order the switch, but that cured it.

Those do go bad sometimes. I don't know what causes it or anything.

Guy's, were talking about a 6.0L here. Where just about everything and it's mother can cause it to not start. Having said that, a bad fuel cut-off switch is probably the last thing a seasoned 6.0 tech is going to think caused the no start. In fact, I can picture a tech going through the troubleshooting, reseting that switch, having the truck start, and then being freaked-out thinking, "it can't possibly be that easy, not on a 6.0!"

How about this: 3 different dealerships/truck shops, including FORD and INTERNATIONAL, throwing their hands up on a 2000 7.3??? I had them tow it to MY house, and said I'd work on it when I could. Those dealerships had thrown new PCM/IDM at it, etc... I bought two new batteries for it.... no, it wasn't THAT simple...checked the inertia switch, but it hadn't been tripped... Put 5 gallons of diesel in it "just for fun" and when I keyed it up, the Pump sounded "JUST A BIT" different... so I cycled the key again and let it run down again, and the third time it wouldn't run down at ALL...so I cranked it and she started right UP~

That was the beginning of me doing all the company trucks work. yay.

EnviroCon said:

Guy's, were talking about a 6.0L here. Where just about everything and it's mother can cause it to not start. Having said that, a bad fuel cut-off switch is probably the last thing a seasoned 6.0 tech is going to think caused the no start. In fact, I can picture a tech going through the troubleshooting, reseting that switch, having the truck start, and then being freaked-out thinking, "it can't possibly be that easy, not on a 6.0!"

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Thats right on! I've reset hundreds of 'em, including back in the 80's, but going bad---this was my second one. Button not thrown, still no continuity through it. As the title of the thread says, it was a pleasant surprise (I really wasn't in the mood to do another stc fitting!)

And for the record, Tom, I've had a few of the "honest, I just filled up a couple of hundred miles ago, It can't be empty!"

I have NO IDEA why noone else noticed the tank being on the E tho, lol
Besides... As a trucker, I NEVER trust the guage... if it reads low, I get out my fuel stick and check it....
then again not many people even know what a fuel stick IS.... And yes, you have to be a bit more creative on the truck. point is, never trust a guage.

mrfixit said:

As a trucker, I NEVER trust the guage... if it reads low, I get out my fuel stick and check it....then again not many people even know what a fuel stick IS....

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Every Ford Model T from 1908 to 1927 came with a fuel stick. The tank was under the front seat, was gravity fed, and the only gauge was the stick. When salesmen went on test drives with customers, and a long hill was encountered, they'd quickly turn around and back up the hill. The customers were impressed till they encountered those same hills going forward. They would then be forced to back up the hill, in order to get to where they were going.

they can be by-passed. when i did the areostar demo van, i jumped it. wish i'd known that w/ the lincoln

There have been times I "resurrected" some folk's pickups and cars... all makes. usually the situation went as such: They'd mention they had this car or truck that refused to start after hitting a ditch or a dip, one said it was just a hard right turn. It hadn't started since, the mechanic had no clue, etc... I'd swing by after figuring out where THEIR inertia switch was and most times, that was the problem! The toughest one was a 79 Chrysler LeBaron; They'd done a DUKES job on it and the inertia switch was mid-frame, above the frame, still caked with mud and grass.