1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
When you say "no tension" does that mean that the key turns the cylinder but you don't feel it engaging anything or starting the car?
If that is the case, you broke the little tabs that fit in the bottom of the lock cylinder. They are very fragile and can easily break. There is probably no problem with the tumbler. If you had a tumbler problem, the key would not turn at all.
You will have to pick up another shifter housing from the salvage yard, as I don't believe there is a repair part for just the ignition internals. I could be wrong.
Here's how the gizmo works... Directly below the ignition tumbler is a geared cam with two little tabs on top that fit into the bottom of the tumbler. When you turn the key, the tumbler rotates and in turn rotates the cam. That cam engages another cam under the ignition switch. That cam also has two small tabs on top that fit into the bottom of the ignition switch. The ignition switch cam also engages another trigger that interacts with the shifter. On automatics, the trigger won't allow the key to be removed unless the car is in park. On manual transmissions, the shifter must be in reverse. Sometimes the mechanism gets sloppy on manuals and the key can be removed or the shifter moved without the key in the ignition. Not the same for the automatics. If your tumbler fails, the car is not coming out of park without a major disassembly.
You can get an extra ignition switch to run the car without pulling out the shifter housing. I carry an extra in my car for just these kinds of emergencies. You just unplug the wires from the ignition switch in the housing, and plug them onto your loose switch. (make a note of what wires go to what terminal before unplugging anything). On the bottom of the switch is a slot (that the little tabs on the cam fit into). You can use a large flat bladed screwdriver or a small piece of metal cut to size. That will allow you to start and move the car, but it isn't a long term solution as the internal trigger mechanism will still be engaging the shifter.
If the car is a 5-speed, remove the shifter from the housing by taking out the 3 torx screws and just lifting it out. If it's an automatic, you can't remove the shifter separately (at least not easily).
To remove the shifter housing, you will need a special tool to get the three triangular shaped mounting nuts off. You can make your own with a 3/8"(or 10mm) socket that you grind into shape to fit over the special nuts. --Some people have had luck with a screwdriver and hamer.-- You will also need a sharp utility knife. Just above the two forward mounting nuts is a part of the cars heating ductwork. It is just a 1/8" flat piece of plastic that is notched to allow access to the nuts. Once you get the nuts off You will have to rotate the shifter housing to get to the screws that hold the bottom part of the housing to the top part to release the housing from the transmission shifter shaft. There is no way to rotate the housing with that plastic part in the way. I usually open the two access notches up to about 1" wide with a utility knife (this shouldn't interfere with any functioning part of the ductwork) so I have clearance to rotate the housing. Still a struggle, but it beats the hell out of removing the lower dash console and all the ductwork to do the job. Once you have the housing rotated you can remove the bottom screws and get it out of the car. The two forward mounting bolts are loose and they will fall down. You can fish them out with one of those little extendable magnetic doo-dads. Once you get them out it's a good idea to get them situated to make putting the shifter housing back on easier. Get a manila folder and cut two penny-size circles out of it. In the center of each, cut a little cross with a utility knife. Reach the bolt down under the mount on the body and push it up through (the hardest part, not much room extendable magnetic doo-dad works good here too.) and stick the little paper thing you made on the bolt to hold it in place. Only push the bolts up through about 1/8" or you won't be able to clear them when you put the shifter housing back in the car. If the car is an auto, you have to rotate the housing toward the passenger side and put the shifter in drive (need the key for that). That will expose a set screw that holds the shifter to the drive cable. There is a little snap ring on the end of the cable that you also need to remove to slide the shifter off the cable. Make note of where the shifter was mounted to the cable so you put it back in the right spot during reassembly.
If you find that there is a repair kit available, pull the housing apart and replace the broken cam pieces. If not, just swap in your good housing. If you want to use your same tumbler. You'll need a little piece of 1/6" or so stiff wire with a slight "L" bend at the end (wire hanger works good). Insert it into the little access hole on the bottom of the shifter housing near the tumbler and point the "L" bend inward. You will be using it to depress a little pin that holds the tumbler in the shifter housing. It can only be depressed if the key is in the tumbler and it is rotated to about 11:00. Once the pin is pressed in, you can pull the whole tumbler out using the key. Before attempting this, spray the little hole and around the chrome part of the tumbler liberally with PB Blaster or WD-40. Sometimes the tumbler will get gummed up so it won't come out easily.
One last thing. There is a metal plate screwed to the bottom of the shifter housing below the tumbler with some large philips screws. The screws actually go through to a plate on the top of the housing. Once you take them out, both the top and the bottom plate will come off. Take a good look at the bottom plate before you take it off. There is a little pivoting teeter totter piece there. Take a close look at how it is situated. Each end of it retains a little pin. A long skinny pin that goes in the bottom of the tumbler, and a shorter thicker one that goes in the bottom of the ignition switch. The pins are just loosely inserted. Once you take the bottom plate off, they (and the teeter-totter) will fall out--don't lose them. What the heck are they for? They are for the "you left your key in the ignition" alert. When you insert the key it pushes down on the little pin, which then pushes the little teeter-totter, which pushes in the little pin under the ignition switch which pushes a little button on the bottom of the switch to make the little beep alert. It only beeps if the key is in the off position (10:00).
I think that's about it. :-)
posted by 69.205....
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