'95 Mercury Cougar
V8, ~170k miles
I recently had to remove the instrument cluster from my car, which required removing the ignition lock cylinder. I reinstalled and operated it with no problem.
I removed the cylinder again, but after reinstalling the second time it doesn’t seem to be working properly.
The key will turn back and forth as normal, and engage the starter when turned fully clockwise. However, no matter what position the key is in all of the dash lights will be on as if the key is set to ‘run’.
I can fully remove the lock cylinder, and still the car is in ‘run’.
No matter what position the key is in, the steering wheel will not lock. I can see a large pin (located just above the back of the key cylinder) slide foward and back as I turn the key.
Any tips?
Images for reference.
Found the problem, look near the top of the image where the two white plastic arms meet. There is a steel dowel pin pressed into one pin that moves the second arm in and out along with the first arm. The second arm has a slot that allows the steering column to tilt up/down. Don’t know why the pin came out, but hopefully it stays in now.
For others that may search the forums, there is a box on the bottom of the steering column (off white in color) that has a pin extruding out the top. These plastic arms slide that pin back and forth, and that box is the actual switch for ‘Acc’, ‘Off’, ‘Run’, ‘Start’ positions.