Anyone ever try an ignition interruptor momentary switch on the shifter?

[Larry Hampton]

Was thinking about this on the way to work. My thought was, if the engine isn't running, then the fuel injectors aren't working. I figured this was better than using the key. It could be hooked to a relay under the hood.

[bravekozak]

If you just want no fuel pump on, then just put a switch in the power to the fuel pump relay on the left inside panel.

[Larry Hampton]

Is that better than interrupting the signal to the coil?

[bravekozak]

What is it that you are trying to achieve?

[Rocketman]

If you interrupt the signal to the coil, you're just cutting ignition, and not cutting fuel. If that's what you're after, then kill the dist signal to the ECU, or kill the injectors

[Larry Hampton]

I'm looking to do the same as turning the key off, but without the danger of locking the wheel. Save fuel in a coasting mode.

[getnpsi]

I wish to do the same and use a momentary switch such as the oem rear wiper/washer switch, and the bottom part as a full kill. There are extensive discussion on ecomodder doing this with a number of cars but i am unsure how to approach it with the festiva. you put the car in neutral on a coast down, hold down the button so the fuel injectors stop firing and the car dies. when you let go and you are still rolling you can bumpstart it as you have not lost fuel pressure. Killing your fuel pump may cause your pressure to drop and you can have an unsafe driving condition trying to get going again. The best way is to cut ignition like most of us do with the key, but i get it that it wears out the ignition switch. We would need to put a relay on there so it energizes backwards, or interrupt the disty wire. which one? haven\t gotten that far. I'm enjoying double my mileage vs the 2.4 srt-4 turbo simply driving this car normally. Adding more miles per tank on coasting is icing on cake. I have not tackled quite as much as i used to with the aspire i had 5 years ago.

[Rocketman]

You guys know that EFI has a built in fuel cut when coasting right?

On the B6T it completely cuts fuel when there's zero throttle at anything over 2500 RPM. Coming down to 2500 it starts minimal fuel again in closed loop using O2 sensor feedback. Cutting fuel that low causes excessive engine braking and drive-ability issues

[htchbck]

On a festiva if you want to cut it using the key, just don't pull the key out of the ignition once you cut it off. As long as the key is left in, the wheel doesn't lock. When you turn off the car and remove the key, that small "clunk" sound you hear is the wheel lock dropping into place, waiting for steering column to get into a position where it can lock. As long as the key remains in the cylinder when you cut it off, the lock remains disengaged. At least on all the festivas I've ever owned or worked on. Doesn't answer your question about using other switches, but at least now you know you can use the key to do it without locking up your wheel.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

A few days ago, I had a Festy lock the steerig with the key in the ignition while pushing it 20' to mow the weeds under it. If I were driving it, I could be test flying my Festy over the cliff (I'll bet it has the glide ratio of a grand piano) or crossing the yellow centerline into opposing traffic.

[htchbck]

Unless there is something wrong with the locking mechanism, as soon as you turn the key to the run position it will disengage the lock. Once you turn the car off, as long as the key is not removed, it will stay unlocked. However, if you pull the key out, and stick it back in, the bolt WILL NOT disengage until the key is turned. Two things have to happen for the column to lock: 1; the bolt has to be engaged, 2; the column has to be turned such that the lock bolt slides into one of the two holes in the column. Meaning that most of the time when you shut off your car and remove the key, the column never even locks up since the lock bolt never even goes into the column locking the wheel unless you intentionally turn the wheel until you feel/hear it lock. But once the key is turned on, as long as it is still in the ignition (off or on) the bolt is still disengaged, no matter where you turn the wheel. When you pull the key out that "click" or "clunk" you hear is the lock engaging, just waiting for one of the two holes to line up with it and actually lock the column completely. Again, thats assuming your lock is functioning the way it is supposed to.

EDIT: Alaska I just reread your post and I'm thinking maybe you had the key in it but had not actually turned the ignition over. Steering could still have been unlocked at that point, until the column turned to the right spot for lock to drop into place, which may have happened when you were moving it. So to clarify, simply having the key in the ignition WILL NOT unlock the column, key has to be turned to the run position first, but then can be turned completely off and the steering lock will remain disengaged until the key is removed and you hear the clunk

[Larry Hampton]

I just wanna use a button as my hand is usually on the shifter.

[Chobobulous]

I drove a newer bmw while i was in Germany that might bring you an idea.

Whenever you held the clutch in for a few seconds the engine would turn off. To get it to turn on by itself you had to release the clutch and push it back in again. When you pushed it back to the floor the engine restarted.

If you were to be coasting down a hill and push the clutch in to kill the engine and forgot to take it out of gear to coast it would bumpstart and take off normally.

Maybe one of the electric geniuses on the forum could rig something like that up?

[getnpsi]

A pushbutto start off ebay with push off is all you really need. I dont know which ones have the dual feature, i assume the 25 dollar ones are not. Id still condider the cheapo version, the less wear on key switch the better

[getnpsi]

You only need to crank engine if the red light intersection doesn't go your way, you get a metrolink etc. I still want a momentary switch for active hypermiling i think thats more important, but all have their uses.