I’ve narrowed down my starting issues on my 76 Mark IV to the ignition switch, but I’m having issues getting to the switch. From what I can tell from the Ford shop manuals, I have to drop the shroud that runs under the steering wheel, but it also seems that to get to all of the bolts that are there, I have to remove the entirety of the front of the dashboard. I’ve attached the section from the shop manual as well as a picture of what I see under the steering wheel. Am I taking the right approach here?
Look at the part of the manual that explains how to remove the steering column, that might explain things better. Tom and Ray used to joke about a factory manual procedure to repair something w/the engine. It only had 4 steps, so at first glance didn’t seem that tough. Step one, remove the engine from the vehicle … lol .
On my Corolla I have to remove parts of the dashboard ass’y and shrouds around the steering column to replace the ignition switch, so what you are reading isn’t that unusual. The Corolla dashboard isn’t a one piece affair, so I don’t have to remove it all, just the parts that are in the way. I expect the same is similar for you.
I’ve never changed a switch on a Lincoln of this vintage but I think Bing is right. The steering column needs to be dropped down.
Many Fords use special tamper-proof screws to hold the switch in also. These have to be drilled out or ground off. Again, whether this particular model uses those I do not know.
Most instruction manuals are lacking. Same with instructions on how to put a new product together or how to fix a computer. I think some manuals and instructions are written in foreign countries where English is not the common language thus they are hard to understand. I’ll also say a good service tech writer is worth their weight in gold. Good luck on changing out your switch.
