electral problems

[John Dodd <jdodd@domain.elided>]

As some of you may remember I had a nasty problem with my son's scout
II. It would suddenly not start. No lights, no starter ....nothing
nada.   next time you tried everything worked.

after getting him stranded and after posting to the list my troubles, we
thought we had found the problem. We replaced the main + lead to the
starter from the battery ... that seemed to fix it.

ya right.... sunday comes, nice rain, great mud, son goes to favorite
mudding site, stops engine to get out and check best mudding place and
... its dead .... only this time just the starter is dead.

he and friends diagnosed the problem as bad starter ( did i mention he's
16) and not wanting to bother me they lay in the mud to pull the
starter, take it to the auto parts store and buy a new one. $65.00 ...
back to the mud, replace the starter and surprise! that wasn't the
problem.
( the old starter was the original one  and quite worn so i kept the new
one in there)
he had to get pulled down to a nearby service station by a bronco ....
backwards. :-{
we go back to get it next day and i find a broken wire... the one that
engages the starter... ah ha found the problem you say, not bloody
likely. We get it home, fixed the bad wire and try it .....no luck. mmmm
look at the wiring diagram ..... there's a relay in the circuit between
the neutral shut off switch and the starter solenoid. Check that out by
pulling it and jumping around it. WORKS, Try again, WORKS ..... damn
it!  I suspected that neutral cut off switch in the first place but we
kept braking things just chasing it down.  Checked the resistance on the
relay and its about 20 ohms or so... took it a part and watched to see
if it would work ( thought the contacts might just be dirty) no luck. so
it seems the the neutral switch itself must be bad.

now does any one know where that thing is and where i can get another
one. Thanks for all the help

John Dodd