Hey guys, I'm in the process of buying a 1989 Trans AM with an interesting story. I will make a nice thread about once I can actually bring her home, hopefully soon!

Before I can get the car towed away I need to be able to turn the key. I've done lots of research on this fine forum and see it's either the ignition switch or the key cylinder.

A couple of weeks ago I was able to drop the column but had to stop because car is outside and it started raining. I didn't want to get the interior wet.

My question is if I remove the ignition switch and it's busted will it allow me to turn the key? This is assuming it's not the cylinder that's ****ed. If that's the case I would like to just leave it like that to able to tow her home and get to work!


Thanks!!

 

My crystal ball predicts it's the lock cylinder, or just the wrong key. Keys and locks wear out, and it seems like people never think to lubricate the things every so often.

Get yourself a steering wheel puller (harmonic balancer puller works too) and a lock plate tool. Pull the wheel, pop off the lock plate, get the turn signal switch out of the way, pull out the key buzzer switch and clip, and it's one Torx bolt to remove the lock cylinder. After that you can reach in the column with a needle nose plier and unlock the column, engage the ignition, etc without the key. If VATS is still involved, you'll need the key in the cylinder and the cylinder plugged in (but not necessarily the cylinder still int he column) to start the car.

 

Hey Drew, thanks for getting back to me. The good news is a couple of my third gen buddies are coming with me tomorrow to do just that!

One of them has a spare column with a VATS cylinder. He removed the cylinder so they will quickly swap it for me to see if that's the issue. I'll deal with getting a key with proper resistace later. Know knows, maybe the parts car key will be the right one lolol.

Thanks again. I'll let you know what the verdict shall be!

 

This may be related, or not, but I sure felt stupid when I could not
get my key out. The shifter needs to be in PARK to do so.

 

The key goes in and out no problem. It's trying to turn it where it does nothing. Doesn't go forward or back to acc.

 

Hey Drew, you called it! Lock cylinder is what's busted. We removed it today. Even off the car still won't turn for ****. My buddy didn't have a chance to bring his spare but he should be getting it for me in a couple days and then we can put it all back together. What a pain lol. On my Mustang I just had to turn it to ON position, push on a lock pin from under the column, remove and replace. 1 minute job.

Forecast is looking good for the next couple of weeks. The snow around the car should melt soon. Just want to unseize the front brakes and tow her home!!

 

Hey Drew, I went back and replaced it with a new one. Everything works fine except I can't turn the key back to ACC position. I'm assuming that is an ignition switch problem?

I also noticed something kind of alarming. The steering shaft seems to be loose. Can move it up and down, left and right. I don't have the lock plate back on (friend passing by with the tool Tuesday). Does it make sense with it back on the play will go away?

Before the steering wheel was locked I didn't feel any play. It was locked but I'm sure I would have noticed something. Can post a video if needed.

 

Once the lock plate is back on, it'll compress the spring and snug up the bearing.

Did you try wiggling the key a little bit? Sometimes the key lock cylinder will catch going into ACC unless you push in a lil on the lock cylinder.

Assume the shifter is in park? There's adjustment in the ignition and high beam switches on the column. If the mechanism in the column isn't assembled correctly it can cause problems too. If the parts around page 25 of the pdf below aren't right, it can result in the key not engaging the switch correctly.

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...ck_Rebuild.pdf

 

I tried playing with the key for a bit, didn't do anything. The car is in Park.
That's a very informative write up. At this point I don't want to go all out and take the comlum apart until I get the car running. Silly things like work and my wife keep getting in the way hahaha

 

Yeah, I wouldn't get too carried away just yet with ripping deeper into the column. At the very least, I'd start with eliminating the least difficult possibilities first, like pop the ignition switch off the column and see if the lock will turn to acc without the switch involved.

 

Well, what a twist! Pun intended lolol.

I neglected to mention that I ended up buying a new non VATS cylinder (I was going to bypass the system and install an alarm) That was the issue. Luckily I'm able to return in and get a VATS piece. I assumed that they were the same thing minus the wiring but should have done my research. VATS is slighlyyyyy longer. Keep you updated!

 

Good afternoon! Finally all done. Even improvised and ran the VATS wire down the column with a branch and 2 bandages haha!