92 Bronco - 5.0l EFI - AutoTrans - 278k miles

I have been having problems with the key hanging in the ignition cylinder. Today it wouldn't rotate to allow me to remove the key so I had to force it slightly until it released the key. Turns out the "wings" around the key on the lock cylinder were out of alignment with the key itself so the key couldn't go all the way in and wouldn't come out after being rotated.

After removing the key I had breakfast and went back out to go home. The key would go in just fine but the vehicle wouldn't turn over or attempt to start at all. After several minutes turning it to Run and back OFF and cycling the key through each position I just removed the key and decided to call for assistance.

Before doing that I decided to try one more time to start the Bronco and wouldn't you know it, it cranked right up like there was never an issue. The only thing unusual was the continued spot in the rotation of the key where you could feel it grab and hang slightly.

I checked online to see about replacing the lock cylinder and found it was probably an "easy process" taking only a few minutes and simple tools. I had a few minutes and wide selection of tools both simple and complex so I decided to attempt this.

I bought a replacement lock cylinder from ORy's and headed home to install it. Since it is flooding around here and my shop is full of other projects I had to do this in the driveway so I had to wait for the rain to pass.

All went well with the removal of the old cylinder:
Removed negative battery cable
Rotated the ignition switch to the RUN position
Removed the tilt steering shift rod from the column
Removed three phillips screws from the lower column housing and shifted it out of the way so I could clearly see the small hole shielding the release pin for the cylinder
Used an awl to push the pin up jiggling the key until it went up and the cylinder was free to be removed.
Wiggled the lock cylinder past the upper column housing and out.

The old key was hung ****-eyed in the cylinder so that the keyway didn't line up with the outer wings so I had to slightly rotate it to remove the key. Just rotated the outer wing portion of the lock cylinder, not the key.

Compared the original lock cylinder to the new one and found them nearly identical and the ORy part had a tube on it that claimed that the cylinder was ready to be inserted. Cool.

I decided to make short work of this and inserted the lock cylinder in the housing finding that I had to rotate the key slightly to allow the pin to retract. After doing that I had the new cylinder in place and checked that it rotated through all positions - ACC-OFF-RUN-START normally.

Seemed to be good so replaced the parts removed earlier in the reverse order they were removed.

After connecting the negative cable I hit the driver seat with a wet rear end since it was now pouring rain and turned the key to the START position. No joy followed as the Bronco didn't start at all. Instead I find that the chime dings for about 30 chimes then stops.

After messing with this thing most of the day with no luck I am trying to get some help.

Regardless of which lock cylinder I have in place this is what I see - door chime dings about 30 times then stops for several seconds. Then, if the door is open it resumes dinging again for 30 times, etc. The vehicle never tries to start with the key in P or N.

As the chimes are dinging the funny thing is that the running lights flash and the light for the odometer flashes on and off. Once the chiming stops, the odometer goes dark and the running lights stop flashing. From the outside of the truck it is as if the emergency flashers are ON yet when I turn them on the turn signals also flash.

I can jump terminals on the solenoid and crank it right up with either cylinder in place.

I'm beginning to suspect the neutral safety switch or the column shift position controller may be causing the key in Run to fail to start thinking it is not in the right position.

I'm at a loss and need to drive this thing on a long road trip tomorrow morning.

Anybody got a clue?

 

actually I think I have found a part of the problem. I don't see the actuator rod at all in the channel above the key cylinder. I should be able to see it moving back and forth in the channel but there is nothing there at all in either of the two small view ports.

I guess I'm screwed.

Anyone know how to quickly fix this fubar?

 

Alright.

Scratch this one and add me to the ******* of the Day list, the closer to the top the better.

After 10 hours working on a 10 minute job I found the problem.

The clicking and dinging and flashing of lights and inability to start the Bronco was the Rattler alarm doing its job. For some reason there was no siren but the other alarm functions worked. Side marker and dash lights flashed, door chimes dinged and even with the key in the ignition you couldn't start the vehicle until you pushed the little button on the fob.

See. I did win.

******* of the Day! I'm Number 1! Go Me!

I'm just glad I didn't begin removing the column to replace the actuator rod or anything else.

Hopefully like me, you all get a good laugh out of this. It was supposed to be an easy task and I was a button-click away from success. It rained more than 3 inches at my house and at one point I would've bet that most of it hit me square in the eyeball as I stared up into the dark recesses behind the dash trying to locate the source of the clicking and dinging. Soaked I was, to the bone. Coffee has once again taken its rightful place shuffling blood cells to all the places where they're needed so I'm gonna be okay for the foreseeable future. The day's chill has been replaced by a warm feeling of accomplishment tarnished only slightly by the day's malfunctions and miscalculations. I'm ready for another Bronco upgrade.