hey whats up everyone im posting for my dad whos not very internet friendly..the truck is a 96 f150 the problem is yesterday when he went to turn off the truck and take the key it stayed running ,he pulled the battery cables still runnin cause of the alternator and eventually pulled the coil wire and the truck shut off,so he thought it was a ignition cylinder and went and bought one..i figured out how to change it out and the problem still exists.I noticed when i turn the key back (on the new cylinder) it feels like nothing is there between the run and off position..very hard to explain just no type of resistance between the two.anyways from lookin at it i dont know if theres a way to get inside of the actually steering colum to fix it..any advice??

 

ignition actuator cam. around $13 for the part, and 3-8 hours to take the column apart, replace part, and reassemble.

 

hm is it worth it to attempt it or just send it to a shop ?

 

its not that hard. Maybe 2-3 hours depending on how mechanically inclined you are

 

well looks like i might be doing my pops a big favor then lol..do u have to take of the steering wheel to do this?

any special ford tools that i show i might need?

 

disconnect the battery.

no special tools.

 

think this is a ford only part or would like autozone have it maybe ?

 

I think Autozone would have it. Make sure you listen to quicklook's advice in terms of disconnecting the battery. Nothing will make you wet your pants quicker than an airbag goin off as you're taking the column apart.

 

yeah it def will be disconnected..im gonna check and see if they have a chilton book there as well cause i have noooo clue on where to start

 

Just do what I do whenever I work on something I have 0 background on. Tear into it a little at a time, take pictures, label bolts and parts and what not, and take more pictures. If that doesn't work, consult the chiltons book!

 

so i went to the ford dealer to find this part and they said they dont sell that part you have to buy the entire lock cylinder housing and it was 60 bucks??..ok not to big of a deal..but i got my hands on a
haynes book and when i look under steering wheel removal it says DO not Remove your steering wheel if it has a airbag which of course my dads truck has.ive had the battery disconnected for about 3 hours now and when i get in it im gonna apply the brakes a few times to get rid of any juice left in the trucks memory or capacitor or whatever it is,because ive heard even with the battery disconnected theres still a chance it could go off. so does this sound right the entire lock housing??

 

no. what you want is an ignition actuator cam. it costs about $13 from ford or auto zone.
disconnect the battery. from the back of the steering wheel, there should be 2 screws that hold the horn pad/air bag on. once you have the horn pad/air bag off, unplug it and lay it out of the way. now you need to remove the steering wheel. after the wheel, you need to pull the clock spring assembly, then the multifunction switch. you also need to take the key cylinder out. then i think the upper column housing to get to the tilt pins. once the tilt pins are out, you will be able to get the broken actuator cam out and back in, and reverse step assembly. tools required are a steering wheel puller, snap ring pliar set, philips head screwdriver, torx drivers, needle nose pliars, and LOTS OF PAITENCE!!! don't rush it, it is fairly easy to do if you take your time and study it.

 

ha that figures..i was talking to some young kid and all he knew was what was on the microfiche and he said i dont see any individual parts just the lock housing as a whole?!?!..well regardless i gotta get to it and hopefully i can find this part else wheres..right now im working on getting the steering wheel off..i got to go and rent the tool right now..but im taking pictures with my digi cam and will be back in after i get to the cam if i can find it lol..thanks TJC for the desricptive instructions

 

i am going by memory on the directions. i never did a newer column, the newest was a 92, but they are basically all the same except for the clockspring.

 

wellllll on the advice of a ASE cert mechanic i checked one thing out before i jumped the gun and he was right..i guess the ROD that trvels down the steering colum to the electrical box which has l shaped rod sticking out of it which controls the truck starting,shuttin off,and going into accesory and obviously off.now the problem is i can see the rod not moving back only foward ie-turning on but not turning off...if i look on the right of the colum i can see where it looks almost like there are 2 housings and they meet and i can see a little bit of the rod that moves inbetween em..i drew a arrow..

i see this rod moving back and forth when i turn the key on and off which tells me that the cam is okay and that the problem is in the lower portion of the colum right??
the reason i know this is because if i crawl underneath the dash and turn the key and watch the rod,which i have pointed too



will move forward to turn on the electrical box and turn on the truck.when i put the key in the OFF position im able to take a small flat head and move that rod back and forth freely in the above picture.

heres some more proof that the cam accuator is good i got 2 pics with the key on and the key off

so with all that being said i think its safe to say that the rod is broken somewhere inside the steering colum right ??? now to get to any of that i gotta take off this spring which i have no clue how to get off any advice?

sorry for all the pictures but maybe it might jog someones memory and i am no good at describing things