Steering lock?

[guinness]

I just had my car delivered to my new home in MN. The truck driver tried to start the car but no joy. I tried but got the same result. the key will turn to 1st position and the wheel will unlock. I read some posts related to this and I think it's the cylinder, any ideas?
Jim

[bubba966]

Manual or auto?

Will the key turn to the start position?

When your steering lock breaks, the wheel won't unlock. And if you've got an auto the tranny lock won't unlock either.

If you can turn the key to the start position and it unlocks the wheel & tranny (if an auto) and the battery seems to have enough power then I'd look at your ignition switch.

Really doubt you've got any problems with the cylinder or steering lock. I've had the lock break on mine. Found out that it was that after replacing the cylinder and the switch. But the only problem was the steering lock.

[guinness]

thanks for the quick reply
it's an 89 auto. the wheel will turn and the tranny went into gear, I had to put it in "N" to roll it off the car carrier

[DaveVoorhis]

Do you mean the key won't turn to the "start" position? If it will, check the battery. If not, check the ignition switch.

[guinness]

it feels like it hits a stop after releasing the steering wheel

[guinness]

So, I just spent a very frustrating hour trying to get the barrel out. I pulled, I pushed, I cursed, I prayed, all to no avail!!!!!!! am I missing something? it wouldn't be so bad if the car was at home but it's sitting at the customs port and I think they want it gone. Any tricks from the car gurus?? I thought about calling a locksmith but I'm in the middle of nowhere (Grand Marias MN) and the closest one is in duluth several hours away, or I can call one in Canada but they can't come over the border and work without special paperwork. any advice would be helpfull.
Jim

[bubba966]

If you can get the tranny & wheel unlocked I say don't bother trying to pull the barrel out at the moment as it's a bitch to put it mildly. I never could get the damn thing out how you're supposed to (turn the key slightly past the 1 position and install a stiff wire in the hole on the outside edge of the barrel to release the retaining pin in the barrel).

What you should do is pull the plastic column shroud off, take a very, very small slotted screwdriver to the two screws holding the ignition switch to the steering lock. Back those out and pull the ignition switch off the steering lock, but leave the electrical part of the switch connected. And then take a large (like #3 philips) screwdriver and insert it into the plastic part of the ignition switch that's normally engaged by the steering lock and turn it over until the car starts.

That's the easiest way to do it to just get the car out of the customs yard.

The way to pull the ignition barrel out of the steering lock without destroying things if the wire trick doesn't work involves a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. And it sounds like you could use a cordless Dremel in this situation.

So, to pull the barrel out without destroying it you'll need to take the plastic column shroud off. On top of the ignition barrel there's a hump in the steering lock pretty close to the edge of the steering lock where the trim ring of the barrel is. If I'm remembering it correctly the hump would be on the dead top of the steering lock if the steering lock were laying flat. But as the steering column isn't laying flat in the car it will be slightly forward of the dead center of the top of the casting.

This by the way should be pretty obvious once you've got the plastic column shroud off. (and I'm really wishing I'd been able to take pics of my car when I was screwing around with all of this stuff as I've tried describing this a few times now).

So, not that you've located this hump in the casting over the steering lock (this hump is what the retaining tab in the barrel pushes into to keep the barrel in the steering lock), take the Dremel with the cutoff wheel and very, very carefully start cutting a small slot into the steering lock in the dead center of that hump, parallel with the face of the ignition barrel.

Keep pulling the Dremel out of the slot and checking it so that you stop once you've cut through the aluminum casting of the steering lock but don't cut into the retaining tab on the barrel. The retaining tab on the barrel will be a brass-ish color, so you should be able to tell when you're through the aluminum of the steering lock.

Once you've cut that slot into the steering lock just wide enough to stick a very small slotted screwdriver into the slot, insert the screwdriver and push down on that retaining tab. Once you've got the retaining tab depressed with the screwdriver you should be able to pull it out. Put the key into the barrel and turn it over to position one so that you can use the key as something to pull the barrel out with.

Did that all make sense?

You see, the stiff wire method to release that retaining tab doesn't work very well when the grease in the ignition barrel/steering lock is old, dirty, and gummed up. In fact I couldn't really get it to work with a new barrel and a new steering lock. If you ever cut a barrel open you'll see how that wire PULLS that retaining tab into the barrel from the inside of the barrel so that it'll allow the barrel to be removed from the steering lock.

But by cutting the slot into the steering lock you can push the retaining tab down from outside the barrel (much easier to do, especially with old, nasty, dirty grease).

If none of this makes sense I can try pulling my shroud off and getting pics for you.

[tim eh?]

If you can get the tranny & wheel unlocked I say don't bother trying to pull the barrel out at the moment as it's a bitch to put it mildly. I never could get the damn thing out how you're supposed to (turn the key slightly past the 1 position and install a stiff wire in the hole on the outside edge of the barrel to release the retaining pin in the barrel).



... the stiff wire worked well for me i did it in -20'c it was easier than hitting the snooze button... a paper clip is pretty wimpy tho... i used a piece of battery cable wire iirc, takes a couple tries to get the feel of where the tab is inside the hole but once you get it the barrel should slide out with a light pull on the key. i think you ought to disconnect the neg at the battery first but i don't know if it matters...

[guinness]

Thanks guys, I'll try it tomorrow. Tonight it's gonna be miller time!
Jim

[bubba966]

... the stiff wire worked well for me i did it in -20'c it was easier than hitting the snooze button... a paper clip is pretty wimpy tho... i used a piece of battery cable wire iirc, takes a couple tries to get the feel of where the tab is inside the hole but once you get it the barrel should slide out with a light pull on the key. i think you ought to disconnect the neg at the battery first but i don't know if it matters...

No need to disconnect the battery to pull the ignition barrel out.

I tried various diameter paper clips for hours with no luck.

The guys at the dealer told me to use welding tip cleaners as they're rather stiff. Tried that for hours with no luck.

And I had the wire dead on in the proper spot to catch that tab. I had a brand new barrel sitting there to look at to find out exactly which spot to have the key turned to so that I caught the tab properly.

Only way I got the old barrel out was to cut the thing apart and pull it out piece by piece. You cut that retaining ring in two, then you can pull the guts of the barrel out. Once the guts are out then you can pull the retaining tab down from the inside with a screwdriver (in essence doing what the stiff wire is supposed to do). But doing that destroys the barrel.

Which is why I figured out that it'd be easier to cut the slot in the steering lock to press the retaining tab from the outside with a screwdriver rather than pull it from the inside with the wire.

Good thing too as after I installed the new barrel into my old lock I found that my problem wasn't with the barrel. So I ended up having to take the new barrel out of my old steering lock. Which is why I put a slot into my new steering lock as well to facilitate any future barrel removals.