Hi Everyone,

Hoping maybe someone else here ran into the same problem.

Last night I went to start my '83 econoline. When I turned the key on, it simply turned all the way around about 180 degrees, stuck in the "ACC" position and the van wouldn't turn over. So essentially my stereo and everything turned on, but wouldn't turn off and the van wouldn't turn over. The key came in and out of the ignition fine and the cylinder moves freely, but further than it should.

I thought maybe my Iginition Switch Cylinder broke so I disconnected the battery terminals to shut the power off and had it towed home thinking I'd hit an auto parts store today and get a new switch/key/cylinder and that would fix it.

I got a new part, popped the old one out and new one in, connected my terminals and unfortunately it didn't fix it. The key still turns a lot further than it should, the stereo/heater etc is stuck "on" and the van won't turn over.

I'm guessing it's something else inside the steering column. I pulled this column out of a salvage yard about 6 months ago and swapped out the old one because it had too much play. It was a headache, I'd hate to have to do that again!

Any ideas?

 

I believe there is a gear and rack with a link down to the ign switch on the lower column . That section may have changed it's position/relationship . Do you still have the old column?

 

I don't have the old column anymore, I swapped it out almost 6 months ago and traded it in to the salvage yard when I pulled the one that's currently in there. Haven't had a single issue with it.

Another symptom I forgot to mention is that my steering wheel no longer locks when the key is removed.

You know that slight bit of friction you feel when you turn your key and the engine begins to turn over? That friction is no longer there and they key just sort of turns all the way around without ever "catching" if that makes any sense.

 

It does certainly sound like the gear and rack became separated for whatever reason.
When you turn the key to the lock position the upper portion of the rack gear engages slots in the disc on the steering column shaft. That kinda confirms it involves the gear and rack.

 

There should have been a 'key hole' shaped washer held back with a snap ring in the lower lockset bore to prevent the tang on the lockset from pulling out and rack/gear pieces.. When you replaced the lockset, was it still in place?

 

Thanks for the reply you guys. I was doing some digging on youtube and found someone having the same issue here, hopefully this better shows what was happening when I tried to start:

After watching this video I decided to start troubleshooting the metal rod that connects the ignition cylinder that I replaced yesterday with the ignition switch that lives near the bottom of the column.

I reached up under the dash so I could try and locate the metal rod that connects the ignition cylinder to the ignition switch mentioned in those videos. I saw one where a guy used a pair of needle nose pliers to push forward on the rod and get the vehicle to start. I wanted to try that because it's currently parked in a residential neighborhood and I was hoping to move it to my friend's garage to work on it. I'm currently in Vancouver WA and it's pouring rain daily! Sadly there's not enough room for me to needle nose this thing to start without me dropping the column out or removing the speedometer casing, which are both kind of painful to do in the open rain! Always an adventure

Upon inspecting the rod, I noticed that it moves left to right in a very loose fashion towards the steering wheel where it meets the ignition cylinder that I replaced yesterday.

I'm guessing this rod should not move around like that, and I am now hoping that it's this simple little part that commonly breaks. I've seen now in two videos though where people are using a grinder or dremil tool to modify that part so the entire column does not need to be taken apart. What are your guys thoughts on this? Is it safe?

here's a video showing more detail on the modification to the part:
I didn't mention that I'm currently traveling all over the country and don't have many "luxury" tools besides my sockets, wrenches, etc. I'm going to need a steering wheel puller as well as a dremil tool or grinder if I'm going to take this route, and if this is indeed the issue. Not sure if it would be more cost effective to just have a shop make the repair versus me having to purchase tools, parts, and make the 8 mile round trip bicycle ride to the parts store every time I need something! haha.

 

hmm, I'm not entirely sure I understand what I'm looking for here...I'll look around a bit for something that looks like keyhole shaped washer and get back to you.

 

You could just drop the ignition switch down like in your video (if you have a set of torx drivers) and use the ignition switch top pin pictured to start the truck using your fingers to get it home..

There's a plastic bearing retainer at the bottom of the lockset bore, and a gear bearing (looks like a flat washer with a keyhole). If they were removed (being it was a used column) or the gear came out it during a switch change, it can be a problem. If their intact, probably not.

Or, you can remove them and rotate the ignition lock rod gear using a screwdriver and check the lock rod teeth. Is this a tilt column? If so, the ignition rod would be a 2 piece unit..

 

Thanks for the tips. I finally got her started by pulling the plastic cover off of the column and getting some vice grips on to the rod. Unfortunately I think in the process I messed up something in my shifter! check out these videos I made, hoping you guys may have seen this issue before! In the meantime I'm going to hop on youtube again and see if I can find any videos on the shifter issue.

 

Happy to say two videos on youtube helped fixed both of my issues! Turns out the broken peice from the Ignition Actuator was causing the shifter jam. I Bit the bullet and rented a wheel puller & made the repair in the rainy streets! ... and got my full deposit back after I returned it. Entire cost of my repair was about $20, when shops were quoting $500! If anyone is planning on doing this same repair and you are modifying the Ignition Actuator, use a grinder to take some of the part off to make it slide into place. There are other videos showing people who cut the entire tip off of the part but that can cause issues with your wheel and key locking properly.