Sticky ignition - an observation
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 924
Likes: 4
From: Johns Creek GA
Sticky ignition - an observation
So today when I went out for lunch, I decided to take the truck. For some reason my wife picked up my keys when she left for work, so I had to get a key from my pile of backups (when my grandfather died, we found that he had 13 ignition keys for the truck, including the original. Why? No idea). As it turned out, I grabbed a ring that had three ignition keys on it.
As I was starting the truck, I noticed that my cylinder felt gummed up; it rotated very stiffly, and when I released the key after it started it didn't come back on its own; I had to turn it back myself to keep the starter from grinding. This was surprising, as my cylinder has always rotated *very* smoothly.
After playing with it some more, I realized that different keys gave different results. I don't know if it means anything or not, but both of the keys on 'True Value' blanks gave gummy performance, while most of my others rotate smoothly. I don't have a micrometer, but I would guess those keys are very slightly thicker.
So for those of you with stiff cylinders, consider getting a different key made, it might help.
As I was starting the truck, I noticed that my cylinder felt gummed up; it rotated very stiffly, and when I released the key after it started it didn't come back on its own; I had to turn it back myself to keep the starter from grinding. This was surprising, as my cylinder has always rotated *very* smoothly.
After playing with it some more, I realized that different keys gave different results. I don't know if it means anything or not, but both of the keys on 'True Value' blanks gave gummy performance, while most of my others rotate smoothly. I don't have a micrometer, but I would guess those keys are very slightly thicker.
So for those of you with stiff cylinders, consider getting a different key made, it might help.
Junior User
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 93
Likes: 0
From: Knoxville, TN
I find a well used key that has been polished by time always works better, my guess is that the wear pattern on the main key and the tumblers match and over time they wear enough to make a "new" key fit differently than it should.
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