430 Kill switch in the trunk

Have you forgotten to disconnect a battery charger (I don’t think a trickle charger would have the power to run the F1 pump)?

Do you have any aftermarket stereo equipment wired directly to the battery terminals?

Of course, the kill switch may be broken.

I’m not sure if a diagram would be useful. Just remember which wire goes where if you replace it.

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Looks like you have to remove the long metal plate just in front of the windshield (in the forward luggage compartment)>

 

From what i recall it is in the negative line, put an ohm meter over those 2 contacts and operate the switch to see if it opens

 

Mike, it might not be a good idea to put an ohmmeter across the switch contacts as one side has a voltage on it (albeit a negative one). In general, it's usually best to do resistance checks with power removed from a circuit (In this case with the battery negative terminal disconnected). Ohmmeters use their internal battery to measure resistance. Adding external voltages could confuse (or break) the ohmmeter.

A voltage check might be better (each terminal to earth). Some multimeters have an amp clamp which should tell you straight away if current is flowing in the negative lead (no disassembly required), especially with the F1 pump running.

https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/sca-sca-clamp-meter---digital/343253.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAmKiQBhClARIsAKtSj-lMK9mPMGAeuS0TbBZWBIA4dB-mGf91frXWc4hpOYH4H2_7S9gf2ZUaArIuEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

You are measuring a break in a line, ie the switch action so there are no volts. If it was a switch with 12 volts on 1 side and the negative on the other you would have a problem but as this is in one line there is no diff in volts

 

You may be right. It’s difficult to visualise when the meter voltage and resistance are included…. and the polarity of the ohmmeter can change.

I just saw the ohmmeter as potentially completing an open circuit, causing current to flow through the car’s electronics and through the battery and resistance of the meter.

I don’t know how different digital ohmmeters are from moving coil ohmmeters are with respect to the effect they have on a circuit.

 

To get a voltmeter to give a dc reading it has to have what is called a pd or potential difference. Measuring 2 points in the same line and the pd is zero but if you connect to 12 volt positive dc and to the chassis you have 12 to zero, connect both probes to 12 volt +. and the pd is still zero

 

I kind of understand what you're saying, but voltmeters, ammeters and ohmmeters are 3 different beasts. If you put any device across the cutoff switch contacts, you're going to get a current flowing through that device (meter, or whatever), especially if the switch contacts are open.
Simplistically, an ohmmeter is a small battery and a meter coil and whatever internal and external resistances there are (in series). And presents something like this to the car's electrical system:

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Regarding the ohmmeter internal battery, I don't know its polarity or how much internal resistance it presents to the circuit or if it is upstream or downstream of the coil of the meter. I also don't know if a digital multimeter presents a completely different circuit to the switch contacts, but on first impressions, you're using the ohmmeter as an ammeter with the cutoff switch open and you're trying to run the car's entire electrical system through the tiny leads of the ohmmeter.

 

My kill switch definitely kills power. I have to remember to open my doors before killing power or the windows don’t drop to clear the spider top.

 

Some owners have reported that there is a small extra wire on the battery earth terminal. We haven't figured out what that is yet. On some 360's there is an alarm siren earth wire on the battery earth terminal. However, it's not as if you could run something like a pump through this wire.

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So you have no trickle or battery charger plugged in (and turned on)?

The F1 pump needs numerous chassis earths to run (and a powered F1 TCU). It just doesn't make sense. Do you have a standard F1 pump relay or a smart relay from Scud-Ing?

 

Time to break out the multimeter

Do you have any additional wires on the negative battery terminal?

 

My uk car has aux earths on the battery clamp, uk cars all have trackers so might be related.

 

If this switch is in the negative line how would it kill everything, you need to have a component to have a earth direct to the body for it to be live, remembering the live is still connected. Seems odd that they dont put it in the 12+ line.

 

You would have to put it really close to the battery. The positive wires go to the extremities of the car on numerous branches. If you had the cutoff switch in the frunk, all the positive wires would have to go to the frunk first. The F430 appears to have at least 2 large wires on the positive terminal.

Remember that actual electron flow goes from negative to positive (opposite to the "conventional current flow" depicted in diagrams), so a "positive" terminal has no extra significance.

 

Still seems odd that that wire would let the pump run (especially if it's in the siren circuit). Note that if it is the siren wire, the separate earth is probably to keep the siren battery charged up with the cutoff switch on.

 

At some point during F430 production, the kill switch was deleted. Almost sounds like you got half a set of "yes, put it in", and "no, the wiring is different".

 

I don't think that is the case. I have one of the last F430's produced in 2009 and it has a kill switch in the front, it just needs to be "turned" using a Torx bit instead of a lever.

 

My 2007 has no kill switch at all,just a hole with a factory plug.

 

Mine has a plug, but you pull the plug open and there is a torx screw which is the kill switch.