So my truck keeps breaking the metal rod in my steering column that i need to start my truck up. i've broke 2 of them in the past 2 weeks. can i just wire up a push button starter to the solenoid under the hood of my truck? just curious.

 

What year truck? You could wire up to operate the starter that way but what about the other functions of the ignition switch? You need to put a thin coat of grease or something on that rod that keeps breaking. Does the key turn hard or catch in a certain spot while it works and before the time that rod breaks? Again what year truck?

 

yea i've greased the rod both times and they keep breaking in the same place. the key doesnt turn hard at all thats why we cant figure it out. but i cant see why i couldnt just wire up a push button starter to that solenoid under the hood. i never have damaged anything from doing it and i've been doing it for a couple of weeks now. the truck is a 90 f150.

 

Are you getting the actuator rods from Ford? The Ford ones aren't that tough, but probably better than most aftermarket ones. I think I read on these forums that you can purchase these rods aftermarket anyway. Other than that I don't know.

 

alright so now im really confused. i can jump the solenoid with a screwdriver but i put a push button and wired it to the solenoid and now it just melts my wire and doesnt even turn the motor. what am i doing wrong?

 

Which terminal on the solenoid are you hooking the wire that comes from your pushbutton to?

 

i put one wire on the positive side of the solenoid and the other wire on the negative side of the terminal and hooked the wires to the switch and it melted the wires. so i tried just using the wire i was using to jump the solenoid and it made the wire get glowing red hot instantly and didnt even try to turn over but i turned it over just fine with a screwdriver.

 

Sounds like your wies have shorted out some where. Been running a push btton in my 88 5 speed for seveal years. I rebult the column the middle of the year from parts from old column and parts from mparts truck, worrked for about a week then it was back to the push button switch which i finally mounted permanently next to the storage hole. Havnt run the pickup for several weeks now do to it not running right.

 

No that's wrong. What you did would work but you would have to run huge battery cable size cables up to your pushbutton and back and have a heavy duty pushbutton switch, you would be carrying the full load of juice to turn the starter(just not practical). Here is the correct way using say 14 or 16 guage wire. Run one wire from a live battery source, you could come off the positive battery cable or any source, up to the pushbutton, run the other wire, from the other side of the pushbutton to that LITTLE terminal on your solenoid that has the slip on wire on it now. That should work.

 

Dont forget to use only a momentary switch or else the starter will continue to turn as long as the switch is in the on position.
This will get the engine to crank but will not make it run. All this does is bypass the keyswitch for the starter but does not address everything else that needs power like ignition, fuel pumps, ECM.