Hello all! Maybe it's just me, but it's fairly easy to stall these cars and sometimes finding neutral is a bit of a pain (I imagine it's worse trying to do it in a panic while blocking the track after a spin). Here's a solution:
Suzuki has a circuit for the clutch safety switch, that senses when the clutch lever is pulled and allows the starter to crank when in gear. The clutch safety switch simply grounds the circuit to tell the ECU it's OK to crank. You DO NOT want to provide a permanent ground to that circuit, you only want a momentary ground when you want to start while in gear. The safest solution is to build an actual clutch safety switch that works off of the pedal, but I also want to be able to crank the starter with the clutch engaged so I can use the starter to move the car in an extreme emergency, so I simply installed a momentary pushbutton on the right side of my dash.
The wire you're looking for is a black wire with a dark orange stripe. It is in pin #9 of the gray connector off the ECU, or the 4th pin from the left on the top row if you are looking at the connector.
On my car the Suzuki factory harness plugs into the Rush dash harness just behind the drivers right shoulder. If you unwrap the covering near that connector you will find where the black/orange wire was cut as part of the conversion to the Rush application. While there shouldn't be another black/orange wire in there, double check continuity between there and pin #9 before proceeding. Once you've confirmed you have the correct wire simply extend it forward behind the dash to a momentary switch and run the other side of the switch to ground. With the transmission in gear and that momentary switch pressed, the starter will crank (obviously, only use the momentary switch if you have the clutch disengaged).
Yes, having the ability to start the engine while in gear and the clutch engaged is a safety issue so implement this at your own risk. Hopefully those of us who have these cars are smarter than the people that have to be told not to use a hair dryer in the shower...
Suzuki has a circuit for the clutch safety switch, that senses when the clutch lever is pulled and allows the starter to crank when in gear. The clutch safety switch simply grounds the circuit to tell the ECU it's OK to crank. You DO NOT want to provide a permanent ground to that circuit, you only want a momentary ground when you want to start while in gear. The safest solution is to build an actual clutch safety switch that works off of the pedal, but I also want to be able to crank the starter with the clutch engaged so I can use the starter to move the car in an extreme emergency, so I simply installed a momentary pushbutton on the right side of my dash.
The wire you're looking for is a black wire with a dark orange stripe. It is in pin #9 of the gray connector off the ECU, or the 4th pin from the left on the top row if you are looking at the connector.
On my car the Suzuki factory harness plugs into the Rush dash harness just behind the drivers right shoulder. If you unwrap the covering near that connector you will find where the black/orange wire was cut as part of the conversion to the Rush application. While there shouldn't be another black/orange wire in there, double check continuity between there and pin #9 before proceeding. Once you've confirmed you have the correct wire simply extend it forward behind the dash to a momentary switch and run the other side of the switch to ground. With the transmission in gear and that momentary switch pressed, the starter will crank (obviously, only use the momentary switch if you have the clutch disengaged).
Yes, having the ability to start the engine while in gear and the clutch engaged is a safety issue so implement this at your own risk. Hopefully those of us who have these cars are smarter than the people that have to be told not to use a hair dryer in the shower...
