'03 ST Inertia switch tripped

[Lee Block]

I have a multi part question. Did some searches here but didn't find. '03 ST 4wd, 90k.



About 3 months ago I was driving on back road around town and the truck just died. A tow to the shop I go to and they said the "inertia switch" was tripped and they just reset it. $105 diagnose charge and I'm good right?



1mth ago I drive from San Jose to LA (350+ mi) and in Long Beach traffic, the truck dies again! I pull off the road call my shop and they tell me where to locate the switch and reset. Reset it, drove off and within 1mi dies again. Did this for about 4miles and got to my destination. Next day I buy a new switch from Ford dealer and notice that the electrical connector to switch is burned and melted a bit. Hmm. Put in new switch and drive home. Since then, no problems.



In the past 6mths the truck has had trouble starting...hot, or cold. Just turns over and won't catch. Shut the key off and try again, fires right up. Plugs were changed, smog good, fuel pressure checked and was told its ok.



Questions. What would cause the inertia switch to trip. Could the hard starting be associated with the switch being tripped and connector burned?



Thanks.

 

[Craig Martin 2]

I had that switch go on my truck simply by my girlfriend tapping the kick panel with her foot. It also happened by hitting a pot hole. I had it replaced under warranty. There is a TSB, or so I was told, on the switch. There is a "new" updated version that doesn't trip...it has a better guard to protect it from being kicked and tripped. HTH

 

[Kevin Palmer]

The switch is somewhat of a weak link all by itself. I have had to replace many in our shop.



About half of the time, I have had to replace some of the wire and the plug end. For some reason, they seem to got hot and fail.



For our two truck, I put in a bypass switch as we replaced four of them. Would leave the switch in the off position, if the switch failed, I would flip the switch so we could complete the job and then put in a new switch and flip the switch back.



For the tow truck, I felt we could not afford to have an issue while on the road. I would not do this for normal use though.

 

[Cynthia Grant]

Where is this switch???? I've never heard of it, but would like to know, since I also have the '03 ST 4WD.



Thanks!

 

[Don Donaldson]

The switch is located in the passenger foot well behind the glove box up kinda part way into the dash... its a push button switch that pops up when tripped.

[Broken External Image]:

/the thing with the red top in the pic...



keep on trac'n

-Don D.

 

[Johnny O]

On my old '05 the switch was on the firewall as pictured, although the owner's manual said it was behind the kick panel. So the switch could possibly be in either place.

My son killed the motor two different times by accidentally kicking it with his size 13's.