Hi there,

I've got a 1989 F-Super Duty, manual transmission with a 7.3 diesel. Recently, the ignition has gotten sloppy where the top of the key sits in the cylinder, so much so that it, now, has to be in just the right spot to rotate. Anyway, I've got a new ignition cylinder to replace the old one, but I can't get the old one out!

My Hayne's guide says I need to have the old cylinder in the "lock" position to depress the retainer pin and release the old cylinder. I found a source online that says the old cylinder has to be in the "run" position to get the old cylinder out. Neither has worked, and now I can't even rotate the the old cylinder to get it in the "run" position to try it again!
I noticed, on the new cylinder, the retaining pin won't depress in any of the key positions. Am I missing something besides my sanity?! lol!

Any suggestions are very welcome and appreciated. I'm hoping to get this truck back on the road by Monday morning. I'll just keep the steering wheel off and see if anyone has any suggestions.

Thanks, in advance, for your time. I look forward to your reply.

Regards,

gloveguy

 

The retaining pin on the new cylinder have 2 possible positions. That is the silver thing on the spring clip.

Remove it, reverse it, and it will work.

I think mine too, came that way from the box with the pin in the opposite way.

The smaller one is "out" not the larger one for me 2005.

 

If you can't get the retainer to release, you can break the chrome part off and get it out. This happens all the time, and I know it sounds a little crude, but take a chisel or large screwdriver and get behind the chrome piece and hit it with a hammer and it will break off. You usually then can get to the retainer and release the old cylinder.

 

Well, i've managed to get the old cylinder out, now when i put the new cylinder in, it only goes in so far, then seems to get hung up. i've got the new cylinder in the "run" position and the pin on the new cylinder is pushed in. i'm still working on it, but any suggetions would be great.
Thanks for the help, so far!

 

Whew!
Well, after verifying several times that i, in fact, had the new cylinder aligned properly, i just put a little extra grease on the cylinder and gave it a few encouraging taps with a light rubber mallet and, presto!, it's in and seems to be working in all key positions.

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies!

Regards,

gloveguy