inertia switch - maintenance?

[Mark Serj]

Hi all,

Just been browsing while waiting for the NYE festivities to begin, and as usual realising how little I know about Stags compared to motorcycles! anyway, lots of interesting stuff about inertia switches- what does it do please, and seeing as it seems to be the culprit for lots of woes, is there any preventative maintenance recommendations? Mine is a MK2 btw. Is it the cylindrialmabob thingy in the engine bay with a buttonish looking end?

I've read that if its a problem then to get you home only you can bypass with a spade type car fuse is that correct please?

Have fun tonight if you are as weird as am being on the forum at this time!!

Cheers

Mark

[mole42]

Hi Mark,

I've used cars fitted with these switches for a long time - they were fitted to the 2.5PI cars as well. The idea is that in an accident the device switches off the fuel pump to prevent a pool of petrol around the car.

Maintenance-wise, I've never done anything in particular. They seem to be fairly durable, but I have dismantled some and cleaned the contacts as a precaution. You can unclip the bottom and remove the weight and the spring contacts, clean them up with very fine wet-&-dry and reassemble with a smear of Vaseline to slow down any oxidisation.

Richard

[Mark Serj]

Cheers Rich. I think I'll just clean the contacts and not mend what is working!!

[DJT]

The internals are very simple, but the weak point is the contacts inside. These sit on a brass collar around the button shaft. As the unit rarely gets touched, the internal contacts corrode over time and make the unit unreliable. Take it apart and thoroughly clean the collar and brass contacts and smear with petroleum jelly (e.g. Vaseline TM) for a reliable future.

This is what it looks like inside:

Inertia.jpg

[Staggering About]

Read all about it.

http://www.grampianstags.net/inertia.htm

[MandM]

if this helps, this is the position on the carP1070605.jpg this is as Dave has said what it looks like insideP1070607.jpg
and you need to clean it so you get a low resistance reading as shownP1070606.jpg.

[Paul Kelley]

Also worth pointing out, in addition to the greater details above, that you can 'clean' the contacts by simply turning the knob on the top, allowing it to spring slightly upwards, and then push it up and down several times before pushing down and turning it back to its original position. If your fuel pump suddenly stops working - and there's no click click on start-up - this is the first thing to do.
PK

[Mark Serj]

as always great advice, thanks guys and HNY!!!!