Hey fellas! Long time, no truck work for me.. But I still have my beast.

After a year of mostly sitting in the dirt, the keylock got hard to crank. If you jiggled it, a connection would be made and it would start. But then it quit starting. I changed the keylock switch. It worked flawlessly - for 2 days worth of starts.. Then turning the key would no longer actuate the start mechanism. Heavy resistance to turning.

I took it back apart.. I squirted just a bit of WD40 on the top of the flat gear teeth running down the column. I worked the flat gear up and down with a punch, it felt smoother.

Put it back together. It would not actuate the starting mechanism. I could hear the fuel pump kick on and saw dash lights, meaning the ACC portion of circuit completed. I think. But it would not engage the start circuit portion. Then after trying to work it back and forth, the keylock tumblers spun in their bore. And the lock lever ? on left side of column was no longer required to turn key to "remove" position. All done with that ignition lock for sure. Not sure what else may have broke, I stopped after removing the spun out keylock.

So, I've read
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ont-start.html

Thanks, ctubutis for good info there..

I also saw this;
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1000800-replace-steering-lock-lever.html

Looks similar to my problem, but not sure. I'm now trying to decide a course of action.

Do I get another keylock and try again? This assumes I put it together wrong - one tooth off - (and thus could not engage starter. And thus broke new switch.)

Or do I try to bypass the steering column stuff completely, using a pair of rocker switches - one for ACC, one spring-type for START.

What do you guys think?

This is a rough truck, has lots of miles. I don't want to keep dicking around with ignition keylocks, and I'm not sure how many cranks I would get from a junkyard steering column. Lot's of work there.. I'm leaning towards rocker switches, but your suggestions are welcome. thanks.

Yea, this was invaluable advice, I should have known.

 

A common problem that causes this is piece #14 in the above diagram breaks in half. This is only used in a tilt column, but many people have a tilt column and don't know it.

 

It sounds like you may have two problems at once. First, be aware that the ignition lock
cylinder itself is just an actuator for the electrical switch. It sounds like your ignition lock
cylinder has broken.

It also sounds like your ignition switch may be bad or may need to be adjusted. First, you
need a working ignition lock cylinder and all related mechanical pieces that actuate the
ignition switch. Then, after that is repaired and working, you need to adjust the ignition
switch. The switch is mounted on the side of the steering column under the dash. If you get
it properly adjusted and you still have electrical problems, then you may need to replace the
switch.

 

Sorry that all ran together. I always try to break things up into paragraphs to easy reading. Sometimes, like this time, the forum removes all of my carriage returns and extra spaces and turns it into a single block of text. Weird.

 

OK, I edited it for ya. This site sometimes causes weird problems for me, too. I
blame buggy software......

 

Make sure you only hit your "carriage return" when you want to make a paragraph. Otherwise, just keep typing one continuous line and let the software bring you down to the next line automatically. See how your post is narrower than everyone else s?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franklin2

See how your post is narrower than everyone else s?

Yes, I do that on purpose as real long lines (I have 22"-wide monitors) are
hard to read IMHO.




This is actually something I learned LONG ago and is why newsprint is in
narrow columns - it's easier to read as it's only your eyes that need to move
back & forth and not your whole head.

For HTML (which we're using here) it's kinda hard to accommodate
everybody as people have different sized screens and use different sized
fonts. The web browser will wrap the lines as necessary - for example,
expand & shrink your browser and the lines should auto-wrap in the right
places by themselves.

This was (supposed to be) one of the Great Attributes of the WWW - let the
USER crol font sizes & placement and such.

But, the 'net later went commercial and the commercial corporate marketing
people wanted things to look like glossy magazine advertisements and so
CSS (cascading style sheets) were born, allowing things to be fixed in place
no matter what the user may want....

 

Really? I don't have one in my non-tilt column?

 

Nope, lucky you. Ford sells a truckload of these things. If I had a business that made and sold these things, I could be a millionaire.

 

Merry Christmas, guys. Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the pic. Not sure what that part #14 is, but if it's the key-removal lever, then yep. Mine's broke. I do not have tilt, though.


Yep, my ignition lock cylinder has broken, twice now.

The first time lock cylinder failed, I swapped it, and it worked for a couple times afterwards. The key removal safety lever - the lever on left of column that you press to turn key tumbler towards Off to remove the key from the lock - is also broken. Not sure if that is what Franklin2 refers to in the picture he posted. Once I dropped the column to get hands on the ignition switch, I found switch to be hanging up sometimes, certainly required extra force and jiggling to get it to click through correctly every time. I guess force required to activate switch explains ruining the 2nd keylock tumbler so quickly.

So. It means fetching a donor column, and I would also have to replace the ignition switch and ignition keylock cylinder (again.)

Or, I can wire for push button. I saw this, and was interested;

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...sh-button.html

My ignition switch is not labeled as Barry suggested, and wire colors don't quite match.. I traced what's there and made a drawing. Hope you can see it, with how wiring is now, and how I think it should be wired.

The diagram shows the ignition switch terminals - the connectors that stick up out of the switch. This part is mounted to the steering column. The colored lines are the wires and their colors from the female portion of the connector. The black lines are how I would connect the wires.



According to what I got from Barry's post;

one fat yelo ---> one side of pushbutton
red & blue ---> other side of pushbutton {this is starter solenoid}

other fat yelo ---> one side of toggle
all others ---> other side of toggle {this is ACC, coil}

I got parts, a 50amp toggle switch, 2 wire. And a 60amp push button switch, 2 wire.

Does the way I've drawn the connections make sense?

 

Carriage returns don't even work when I post. I have to manually do it by inserting 2 page breaks with br in between the <> things. ]

Now for the switch. I like having things work like intended. However, when those things become problematic....I would just use switches or an aftermarket key switch. ]

I'm not sure what you're planning, but I would use relays and a tiny switch to do ACC and RUN. I would then use a horn button or an extra headlight dimmer switch for START.