Ask the Editors: What Is This Odd Switch?
Clicking this one seems to do nothing.
This question is anything but foolish. In fact it seems to have stumped both us and all of the mechanics/ dealers we showed the picture to as well. Combined, we searched over 100 switch clusters and not only couldn’t find another like it, couldn’t find another with the odd symbol either.
Were we to guess off instinct, it appears to be a manual fan override but given that this is likely an air-cooled machine, that may be far reaching. However, we were reminded multiple times by almost every dealer we talked to that off-brand ATVs often scavenge parts from other machines including motorcycles as part of cost shaving measures. As such it isn’t uncommon to find a lot of switches and levers that do absolutely nothing in their clusters (examples include horn buttons, turn signals, winch controls, remote starting toggles and redundant kill switches).
If it’s really driving you crazy, the only way to be sure would be to follow the wires from this switch (assuming there are any) to their termination point on the machine. Do they merge at an ignition harness, go back to the battery, seem to be tied into any relays? We have encountered youth machines that used switches like these as speed governors, top gear lockouts but in this case feel your initial reaction may in fact be the correct one: This is likely a switch that does absolutely nothing.
