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Ignition Lock Cylinder Failure and dead Starter


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Jumped in my truck to go home today and lots of strange electrical stuff was going on. Brake light on, temp gauge reading well over 260, & no power to radio or heater blower, and a strange electrical buzzing sound.

 

When I got out of the truck, the starter was smoking and was, of course, fried.

 

This was caused by the ignition switch not returning to its normal position (after the start). I didn’t realize the cause until after it was too late and had to get a new starter from the local auto parts store.

 

Has this happened to anyone else? Is swapping out the ignition switch cylinder a straight-forward job? Does anyone have a write-up?

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my ignition switch(down at the bottom of the column) shorted between 2 of the tangs and the blower/radio/guages yada all quit working...swapped it out and havent had a prob since...mine was due to a floppy tilt mechanism on the column

 

Well you guys are better than I am. :oops: :bowdown: I been into the column a couple of times to replace a new multifunction switch (when installing delay wipers), and then again to repair a loose tilt joint. I simply could NOT align the teeth, lock cylinder, and key rotation when putting it all back together - BOTH times!. Drove me crazy, spend an entire day before I had to call in reinforcements. Maybe just a brain fart / mental block on my part, and I'm not real happy admitting it. But for moi: no more column work EVER again, except to replace the whole beast. It's just a diabolically engineered piece of sheite designed to give me nightmares. Anything else, now even including changing diff gears, I can do, but the GM columns just scare the crap out of me. Would love to switch to a floor shifter, but that involves column work, so I'm living with it. :cry:

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my ignition switch(down at the bottom of the column) shorted between 2 of the tangs and the blower/radio/guages yada all quit working...swapped it out and havent had a prob since...mine was due to a floppy tilt mechanism on the column

 

Well you guys are better than I am. :oops: :bowdown: I been into the column a couple of times to replace a new multifunction switch (when installing delay wipers), and then again to repair a loose tilt joint. I simply could NOT align the teeth, lock cylinder, and key rotation when putting it all back together - BOTH times!. Drove me crazy, spend an entire day before I had to call in reinforcements. Maybe just a brain fart / mental block on my part, and I'm not real happy admitting it. But for moi: no more column work EVER again, except to replace the whole beast. It's just a diabolically engineered piece of sheite designed to give me nightmares. Anything else, now even including changing diff gears, I can do, but the GM columns just scare the crap out of me. Would love to switch to a floor shifter, but that involves column work, so I'm living with it. :cry:

 

They are definitely easier to do clamped in a bench vise than in the truck. I made some good coin rebuilding the GM columns in Jeeps because XJ's were a "high demand" vehicle for thieves for quite a while. They would just break out the upper bowl around the ign cyl to start them. You could always tell the experienced thieves from the novices. The "good" ones did very little damage to the column, while the hacks would butcher the snot out of it. ( Breaking out the drivers window was always a tell tale of a rookie as well. Who wants to sit in glass for the joy ride?)

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my ignition switch(down at the bottom of the column) shorted between 2 of the tangs and the blower/radio/guages yada all quit working...swapped it out and havent had a prob since...mine was due to a floppy tilt mechanism on the column

 

Well you guys are better than I am. :oops: :bowdown: I been into the column a couple of times to replace a new multifunction switch (when installing delay wipers), and then again to repair a loose tilt joint. I simply could NOT align the teeth, lock cylinder, and key rotation when putting it all back together - BOTH times!. Drove me crazy, spend an entire day before I had to call in reinforcements. Maybe just a brain fart / mental block on my part, and I'm not real happy admitting it. But for moi: no more column work EVER again, except to replace the whole beast. It's just a diabolically engineered piece of sheite designed to give me nightmares. Anything else, now even including changing diff gears, I can do, but the GM columns just scare the crap out of me. Would love to switch to a floor shifter, but that involves column work, so I'm living with it. :cry:

 

Geting ready to do that swap this weekend (wife permitting). I will post it up (hopefully pictures as well) under the build on the jeep.

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