I got this car back last June and its been a good beater. I've been having the following:

The cruise control will just 'drop' randomly, also when I change to and from high-beems or move the signal shaft in any way.

The signal lights stopped working in December sometime. The cruise stopped also but began working again in March (the cruise control is a on-again off-again it decides of it wants to work..)

I know the bulbs are not blown, I've checked them a number of times.

Yesterday the ignition switch refused to allow me to turn the engine off. It did this to my father in law in the morning, then to me later that afternoon. Father in law got it to 'loosen?', while I had to pull fuse #17, and loosen the battery cable to not kill the battery.

After using the car this morning, my father in law was able to just turn the engine off, however the key will turn to the 'on/ignition' position, however WILL NOT MOVE TO THE 'IGNITE/START' POSITION where it would spring back.

Has anyone had similar problems, or any advise on what I need to do to fix this?

Thomas

p.s. The key was always difficult to remove from the ignition and a local locksmith told me one of the tumblers was 'sticking'... not sure if this would effect it or not.

:werd:

sounds to me like the inside of the lock cyl the actual ignition switch in the column is bad also sounds like you might have wiring probs with the column in general becuase of the issues with the turn signal switch.

So should I assume I am best to replace the whole steering-column?

My wife got some advise, involved pouring wd-40 down the keyhole... we got the car to start, tho now the key will not return to the off position, and can not shut off without removing the fuse and the live wire from the battery...

Yeahh you might want to get a column now.. putting any fluid of any kind down there is and was not a good idea there is a tremendous amount of wiring and contactors in there and it sounds to me like you have something that will not break contact now. I would look into replacing the assembly

I picked up the new column today, it came out of a Olds Royal..

Here's the funny bit, he was gonna take the ignition switch out, but seeing as we need to rekey it, we are gonna wait until it can get re-keyed (locksmith and first week of the month are a bad combination)

So the mechanic pulls my column apart to remove the ignition, gets it out, putting the damn thing back together... well, the wheel seems like its not sitting right.

Any advise for shoving this unit back together so I am comfortable driving on the major highways? (He thinks a bearing(s) are gone...)

Thomas

I dunno about the steering wheel, but aren't the older style cruise control devices controlled by a vacuum? Could there be a leak in the line? I had a shitty 1992 Chevy Lumina and the cruise quit on me altogether. There was a "T" bracket that broke. Since it was also connected to the A/C unit, that also explained why the vent position would stay on one setting instead of going to "vent", "floor", "defrost"....