You nailed it Gordon, I have now experienced 3of those switches with the self ejecting flange "feature"
I have been successful in the past with a bit of dense foam and a zip tie or 2.
I did remove this one and serviced the seal, and cleaned up the contacts.
Bench tested fine.
I attempted to get a good reading for status with the switch out and just hanging there. No dice.
Pressing the plunger also caused no change in the status on the Nano.
The only thing I didn't try was to short the wires with a croc clip lead.
It's all back together now as I have an early morning departure to do the trip to Southern California.
There is one 98 in a breakers yard on my route. I will grab the switch from there and try it.
Gilbert, I get a dope slap for " forgetting" that as the puddle light had crumbled, it is not there.
I have added puddle lights to my shopping list.
Possibly, as this is an 02 and NAS, it has a slightly different loom without the clutch switch since no manuals were sent across to us.

I pulled the duct out of the way again, and had a good look under the dash.
All I found was a small white plug with Violet and Violet/Black wires. It's sort of in the position you would expect the clutch pedal to occupy. Aside from that, I saw nothing amiss.
Looks like a 2000 mile return trip without cruise! Shoot!

Hmmmmmm....
I was able to find a Y/G and black pair, but they are connected to the fuel filler flap release button.
I will pull duct back out in the morning and look again in depth.

Also, I note that on the 99 the Nano also reports the cruise as Disabled and brake /clutch as Pressed.???
Could someone with a Nano and working CC on an Auto trans please confirm that "Pressed" is not normal?
I find it improbable that both have the same issue simultaneously.

As an aside, do the indicator lamps on the CC and EAS override buttons share a common earth or Pos?
I noticed on my test run today the lamp on EAS override button does not come on.
Coincidence that both globes failed at the same time, or the sign of yet a deeper plot on the part of
the P38 conspiracy??

Tested the Brake / Vacuum switch on the bench.
It was a bit grubby inside, but a quick service and lube of the seal at the end got it working well.
Contacts close and vacuum breaker opens reliably.
Still, nothing I can do to manipulate that input, shorting the contacts, opening the contacts. whatever.
The Nano still reports that switch as "Pressed"
Officially out of ideas for the moment.

Next on the list of minor annoyances is the Cruise control on the 02...
It was fine, then just stopped.
The light on the switch is off, however, I suspect that is a bad bulb.
I do have difficulty connecting to Hella CC with Nano, but when it eventually does, I get to check all functions.
If the dash switch is not pressed, I cannot ever connect, and if I switch dash off whilst reading data, it stops, so I think switch is OK
Speed input valid, and follows actual speed whilst driving.
Brake light shows ON when pressed.
Wheel buttons show proper response.
Vacuum lines are good, and I swapped in a known good vac pump/ diaphragm module.
Swapped in the ECU from the 99, which is the same part number. No difference.
What I cannot get to change is the "Brake / Clutch switch" status. It stays reporting "Pressed" no mater how I manipulate the
CC switch on the pedal.
So, I have "Cruise Status" DISABLED showing on line one of the inputs screen.
Cruise is "SET" in Becm settings
Anything else to check? I will remove cruise control brake switch next and test on the bench.

As an aside, Oddly, the CC on the 99 is duff as well at the moment. Nano reads same for it as well. Dash switch on 99 does light up.
It is as difficult to connect to with the Nano as the 02.

I thought you were one of the guys with a test bed.
Have you got any blend motors that come up with a motor shorted to positive error?
If so, I would be curious to see if removing the small capacitor gets rid of the error.
Several days and drive cycles later, the errors have not returned and the lack of the Cap
hasn't caused any other issues........

Thanks,
I was under the impression that they were both 4 pin or both 2 pin.
If it's in decent shape, I will grab the front diff from the 98.

The reason for this question is that I am going to be driving from Oregon to Southern California next week and planning to stop at as many breakers as I can that have P38s......
So far, 2. A 96 and a 98. And that's from 21 breakers!! Getting scarce!
I am after a differential for the front axle of my 02. ( And a handful of other odds and sods)
Don't need it yet, but wanted to get one as there are fewer and fewer P38s coming up in breakers yards.
So, is a 4.6 1998 differential a 4 pin and if I have a choice, would a front axle be in better condition than the rear?
Any other parts I should have on the shelf? I'm thinking transfer case?
With any kind of luck, I will be able to power up the becm and use nano to pull up the mileage.. I'm good with anything under 150k miles.
Cheers!

Great tip!
I will report the results.
In the meantime, it appears that aging filter caps in the blend motors may just be behind the "Shorted to positive"
syndrome. I clipped out the offending part on the board, and the problems all went away!
The LH Pot issue as well as the right as suspected, stemmed from a cracked blend motor plug keeping the contacts for
the 2 white wires (Potentiometer LH and RH) from making consistent contact.
So, all good for now. I will be curious if anyone who has the shorted to Pos issue is able to duplicate my results?
I know there are a couple of blokes out there with HVAC test bed setups. Possibly try it out?
It would be nice to not have to purchase new BMs if it's only a failed cap.
There are no adverse effects that I can see from not having it there, but I suppose it could be replaced if needed. Very small value ceramic cap.

Well, Yes.......That would be nice if it did not make stuff up or mis report.
I have a good smooth motor, and a clean Pot as tested on an analog meter. Smooth sweeps.
Clipping the cap out did get rid of the motor shorted error, but I got the persistent pot failed error.
As the plug for the blend motors was cracked, I soldered in a replacement from the spares cabinet.
This has cleared up the issues with the RH blend motor.
NOW I am getting feedback failure error from the LEFT blend motor!
I am a decent solderer so I doubt I screwed up a join.
In addition, I noted that when testing the pushbuttons on several HVAC controllers, The Nano reports,all
of the LH buttons to be on the RH side and vice verse.
I have found other things that the Nano is dyslexic about so I am now left wondering if it is cross reporting issues?

Back at it!

As the title says. How the heck can a blend motor short to positive when it is mounted onto a pcb
which is encased in plastic, then screwed to a plastic box?
I have had an entertaining day chasing my Right hand blend motor shorted to ground issue.....
Removed, tested, cleaned, replaced. Same error.
Tried 3 different, known good HVAC heads. Same problem.
Swapped in a used replacement. Problem went away! Only to reappear as "Potentiometer feedback circuit failed" (or something like that)
Put in a 3rd B/M after testing, cleaning, and re testing. This one faulted with Motor shorted to positive.
Took the motor out of the one with Pot failed error, and put it in the one with Motor shorted issue.
Got motor shorted error on this one.
I am thinking now that the caps on the B/M PCB are the issue as they will die with age.
How else could stray current trigger a fault?
Tomorrows job will be to remove these caps and see what is happening.
I am sure they are there to filter the noise from the brushed motor, Worth a try...
I will source replacements and try that if no joy.
If Marty was around, I am sure he would have a better plan.
I am open to suggestions.
I will report back tomorrow......

Hey!!
It's Christmas, be nice........
Happy Christmas and or boxing day as appropriate.

Sydney to Hobart is about to start!!!!

Is this an app zoom thing?
Will there be an invite?
I think this android tablet should work or I can go to the boat and use my venerable windows slate.....

Possibly the two ugliest words in the P38 lexicon:
Ball Joints.
Finally got psyched up enough to tackle these on Bolt.
Middling decent hand tools loaned by the local O'Reilly's auto parts shop.
Actually, the job was not as bad as I thought it would be.
4 hours for the first set an a bit over 2 for the second ones.
I would like to know what the proper press cup looks like for the bottom one?
Had to use a cut off wheel on the grinder to cut off the flange on the bottom of the lower to allow it to be
pressed out.
The first set only lasted 215k miles! (How many sets have you been through Gilbert?)
Glad I do all my own work as I imagine the current crop of ham fisted shop apes could really screw up the job!
With any kind of luck I will not have to do them again!

Interesting.
As usual, when you have an inexplicable, intermittent issue with a P38, start with all the earths.
Of course, I don't have to give you that particular advice!, but possibly an earth point that a Bosch has that a Gems doesn't?
Also, pull the RH door sill plate and have a good look at the wires in question.
The first issue I ever had with mine was caused by the wiring loom being slammed in the door opening prior to the rubber door seals being installed. This was very obviously done on the assembly line.
All the idiot did was to wrap a second layer of tape over the 2 affected areas which were about 2ft apart and cut on the diagonal
Since the harness was hanging over the door sill.
There were 8 wires total that had the insulation nicked. Add a bit of moisture and they corroded and broke.
Main clue was the data lines from obd plug were broken in 2 places! Repairing the coax got the radio working as well!

I tried this on both the 99 and the 02
Both petrol obviously......
In both cases, it took about 3 seconds for the dot on the temperature gauge, the low fuel dot on that gauge
And the suspension high symbol to come slowly up to about 30 percent brightness.
That was it. This was done with the key out of the ignition.
I should note that as I was in a hurry, I didn't turn on the lights inside the shed. It's possible the same thing
was happening to yours but there was too much ambient light for you to see the 3 dim lights? Perhaps trying it in
the dark would shed some light??!

Happy to perform any other tests.
TC

+1 on a good trailer!
I wish I still had my ex military trailer.
When Bolt was the work truck in Hawaii, I used to tow 3 ton pallets of batteries and electronics up a very rough track from
sea level up to 9000ft every couple of months for off grid power systems.
Best off road towing vehicle I have ever used!
Roof rack was great for the long awkward aluminum PV panel racking! I made a brace that strapped to
the front brush bar to support the front ends of the frames.

Plywood, sheet insulation, pipes, Steel concrete reinforcing rods (20 ft) assorted sized lumber up to 12x4x16ft beams.....
Etc....Basically everything needed to build a house. If it does not fit inside, it goes on the roof rack, which holds up waaaay more than it is rated for!

Possibly he is referring to the way that UK and EU regulators are slowly but surely coming up with reasons why
Big, safe SUV type vehicles are almost solely to blame for the Human Caused Climate Pandemic..?
(We need to hate carbon spewing dinosaurs and embrace terawatt sucking heat spewing data centers)
It's looking like rather than converting to Lpg, a new business plan featuring battery or fuel cell and electric conversion may
be a good career choice!
Oh, wait!!!! The French are implementing the new over 1600kg parking taxes which the UK regulators are salavating
Over.......
Heck, maybe you can claim "Climate change refugee" status for your Rangie and send it over here!
The current management seems to love gas guzzlers! And we have wide roads......

Have a look at the MAF readings since you have a Nano.
Last one I had go out made it look like coils and wires as well.