What is the function of this red button under the dashboard?
Sorry for the very newbie question.
Carlos
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Most likely highbeam and lowbeam switch.
It could also be the passenger ejection switch. It really depends on who built it.
All this time I thought the injection button was hidden in the shifter
On mine it arms the "oil slick" device.
Like Carlos G said, it could be anything. It's not a usual switch placement for something in particular as far as I've seen.
See, I couldn't have a mysterious red button on my car. I would have pushed it twelve times before the thought that I shouldn't be pushing would pass through my head.
After pushing it a few more times, I would post here.
I’m going with emergency flashers.
Ignition cut off or electric fuel pump switch (prevent theft)? Fire suppression system?
It is also entirely possible that it is a fuel prime switch. Some cars the fuel pump only runs if there is a tach signal or oil pressure. This momentary switch could easily be used to run the pump and fill the float bowls enough to start the car, should they ever run dry.
His car is a Vintage, I believe built by Greg and that is what Greg uses for the highbeam lowbeam switch.
Only other thing that occurs to me is windshield washer pump.
@Michael Pickett posted:Only other thing that occurs to me is windshield washer pump.
You meant to say "blinker fluid pump", right?
Why don't you just push it and find out?
@Panhandle Bob posted:Why don't you just push it and find out?
Of course we didn't give you the nickname "Calamity Bob" for nothing, now did we?
Anybody on here old enough (and/or "Geek" enough) to have played "Adventure" on computers back in the late 1970's?
There was a point in the game when, in describing a room, there was a button or switch on the wall with a label that said; "Do Not Push This Switch"
No one I knew could resist pushing the button. Nobody.
Depending on how you had gotten to the room, different things would happen if it was pushed, some good, some bad. I always hoped for "Magic Happens" and then end up in a totally different room....."PooF!"
Maybe the red button teleports you beyond the traffic snarls?
Lane:
Assuming you check for explosives etc. like on a James Bond vehicle, how bad could it be? Did it used to belong to an EOD Tech?
Come to think of it, don't take my previous advice.
get the old lady to try it first:}
@Carlos P OK, so what was it for, Carlos, we're running out of ideas.....
@Panhandle Bob posted:Why don't you just push it and find out?
X2. 
Like Troy said, it is for the high beams. Greg just showed this to me last week on my car.
i will test out Friday, my Speeder is the mechanic for the fuel leak. So, friday morning I will test out :-)
regarding high beams: what would be the differences be with the low and high beam pull out knob on the dashboard?
c
I dunno Im usually asleep as it gets dark....but Im hell at 5AM
The gentleman identified himself as a newbie, and asked a question that was serious to him. Troy Sloan provided the first serious, classy answer to provide help. The rest of the drift was, or should have been, embarrassing for some of you. Troy...you continue to be a gentleman and a fountain of knowledge. I have a Vintage Speedster CA from Greg. and that is what the switch is for. You other guys, don't drink and get on the internet, and think about how you would feel if a posse started having fun at your expense. If I have a serious but perhaps awkward question exposing my lack of knowledge...I'm PM'ing Troy first. The rest of you, remember, you end up representing all of us.
Hey Idaho: Lighten up. I guess we'll all go stand in the corner for a while. Let us know when we can come out.
I remember an old thread where someone asked what a particular button did and the correct answer (before it got nasty) was "many of these cars are custom and that button could be anything....have you followed the wires?"
He didn't like it either. But perhaps if he started with providing who the manufacturer of his Speedster was....if he knows.
@Carlos P posted:i will test out Friday, my Speeder is the mechanic for the fuel leak. So, friday morning I will test out :-)
regarding high beams: what would be the differences be with the low and high beam pull out knob on the dashboard?
c
If you have a two-position headlight switch(most are), the first detent is parking/dash lights, at the second detent the headlights come on.
Hey @Idaho you're kinda right. I appreciate you calling us out. And thanks, @Troy Sloan for offering up the probably-right answer early in the going. @Carlos P, I hope you weren't offended by our weak attempts at levity. We all respect each other here but we're not always as careful and formal as we might be with new members.
So if we indeed got off on the wrong foot, I hope we can start fresh. If you'd like that, please press the red button...
History Eraser Button from Daniel Hook on Vimeo.
Idaho:
Despite your admonishment to the contrary, I don't represent anybody but myself. And, please don't presume that you represent me in any way.
This kind of thing happens on this site all the time. No harm is meant. Anybody who has been on here for awhile and asked a few questions has probably gotten a mix of serious and smart ass responses to at least one of them.
We have a pretty good time, often at each other's expense but rarely is it done in a cruel, demeaning or vindictive fashion. If it is, somebody will call it out.
If you have a problem, activate the old block button and poof, those of us that offend you all go away.
Trust me Bob, I don't presume to represent you in any way. But I called some of you out.
Wow.
I'm REALLY glad I didn't make a joke about the red button.
I've got a 9 year old special needs grandson (don't tell the others, but he's something of a favorite). He had an aneurism when he was 2 days old - he wasn't supposed to live, or ever be more than a vegetable. He did indeed live - and thrive. He's definitely "differently abled" to use the vernacular of our more sensitive (and less honest) times - which is a somewhat insulting way of saying that his brain has rewired itself around the damaged parts, forming new circuits in places that most of us never use. The little dude is amazing.
He can add and subtract roman numerals. He's a time savant - he LOVES clocks, and can tell you the time of day on September 21, 2019 when he saw Mia at the Pumpkin Festival and she smiled at him. He can tell you what day of the week June 2, 2020 was, or February 15, 2018.
He also doesn't like new things - REALLY doesn't like them. He doesn't like it when we're doing something new as a family and having a good time. If it's not familiar, and he's not in the center of it - he feels left out (even though he's not). He calls it, "no fun family time" and goes off to pout in the corner by himself. Eventually he decides the new thing is OK, and joins right in, but "no fun family time" has become something of a shorthand for inflexible folks who don't want to enjoy life in our family.
I feel like that's what we might be gliding towards here, and nobody wants that.
I hope we never let this place get to be like FB, where somebody posts a picture of their pride and joy and every idiot on the interweb tears it apart - but we have always shared a good time with each other, and often give each other a bit of a rough time because we're friends. I don't want this place to become mean and hard... but I sure hope we don't become another place where everyone takes offense at everything. In this day and age, the internet is all microagression-sensitive weenies or keyboard warriors - there's not a lot of thick skinned, good humored, friendly neighbors behind the screens in very many places. This has been one of them.
I've had the pleasure of meeting lots and lots of "imaginary interweb friends" from the SOC over the years. Panhandle Bob is probably the nicest guy any of you will ever meet. I've got no idea if you are a good guy, "Idaho", but I'm gonna' trust that you are. Getting to know one another a bit before assuming aggression was intended is a good thing. "Calling some of us out" is not something many of us aspire to. I'm not sure what's gained in doing it.
To the original question: I'd never seen the red button before, but it seems like a thing begging to be joked about (it's a red button, see? How much more perfect could it be?).
What do you say we just take a breather on this one?
On my vintage speedster it was headlight high beam low beam. there was a toggle switch with under the dash for fog lights
@Stan Galat I don’t know why by now, but you continue to amaze me. Well said.
@WNGD posted:I remember an old thread where someone asked what a particular button did and the correct answer (before it got nasty) was "many of these cars are custom and that button could be anything....have you followed the wires?"
He didn't like it either. But perhaps if he started with providing who the manufacturer of his Speedster was....if he knows.
Oh wow, I remember that 1- I made the suggestion to follow the wires to find out what they were attached to and boy, the sh!tstorm that followed! I was a great big a-hole for suggesting that he might be able to figure it out himself (heaven forbid he actually put a little bit of work into it), no amount of apologizing was enough (I still think it was a good plan but I was willing to eat a little crow just to make peace, but to no avail), and a few of you were a-holes for agreeing with/defending me. I told him I'd stay away from his conversations since my ideas weren't what he wanted to hear and then shortly after he stopped posting.
PS- @Stan Galat wrote- "I'm REALLY glad I didn't make a joke about the red button... To the original question: I'd never seen the red button before, but it seems like a thing begging to be joked about (it's a red button, see? How much more perfect could it be?)."
And now I remember why I was wary of this thread...
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One thing I keep failing to learn is that, posting online, you never know when you might be pushing someone’s buttons.
@Sacto Mitch posted:.
One thing I keep failing to learn is that, posting online, you never know when you might be pushing someone’s buttons.
If you would've pushed it, we might've found out what it was for and we'd be talking about cake, or puppies by now.
My ex wife lives in Idaho. I blocked her too.
@Stan Galat Well said!!!!
We all have our own red buttons and I think someone pushed Idaho's a few too many times.
It's the Bright light switch for sure though!!!