Hello:
My ignition lock cylinder assembly (ILCA) has failed. According to my 1977 car shop manual from Ford, if
the ILCA was functional the procedure to remove it would be to turn the lock cylinder with the ignition key
to the ON position, place a 1/8 inch diameter wire pin in the hole located inside the column near the base of
the lock cylinder while pulling out on the lock cylinder and then removing it. However, my ILCA will not
move to the ON position. According to the manual it says I will have to remove the complete housing that
contains the ILCA and replace it, NOT GOOD! :( Does anyone know or have experience how I can go about
removing the inoperative ILCA so I can replace it with my new ILCA? Can I drill out the lock cylinder and will
this do the trick?
Thanks for any help! My Pinto is dead in the water. :(
77Pintocw
Will the cylinder not turn at all? Did it fail suddenly or was it getting worse over a period of time? have you attempted disengaging the rod from the lock cylinder to the ignition switch to see if it may actually be the switch that is bad? If it is the cylinder and you can get the original key in it, try some graphite or light oil in the cylinder to see if it will loosen up enough to get the key in the proper position to remove the cylinder. I have seen people take a hammer and punch and force the pin in far enough to remove the cylinder, but if you miss, it can get pretty messy! :-\ :-[
79panel:
The cylinder has been getting worse over time and I was going to replace it this summer when I
got the time. However, it beat me to it. The key will only go in about 90% of the distance,
which means I can't turn the cylinder. I think one or more of the tumblers have failed in the
cylinder. I will try your suggestions.
Thanks!
77Pintocw
When mine when bad I could not get the pin to push back in in any position so I took a small drill bit and drilled it out, its soft metal so it was'nt to hard of a job. Once it's gone the cylinder just pull's right out ;D
Farmboy:
Cool! If I can't get my key to turn the cylinder I will give your suggestion a try. I really don't want
to replace the entire housing, just the cylinder.
Thanks! :)
77Pintocw
Well:
I ended up drilling the small pin plus the cylinder core. Only took about 45 minutes making
sure I didn't mess up the housing. The old cylinder came out, put the new one in and I
am back on the road again! ;D