Busted ignition - ignition cylinder rod replacement (1 Viewer)

well, today as my wife is leaving, she complains that she turns the key and nothing happens. I go out to see, and it seems like the ignition or tumbler has borken off in the "off" position. Turning the key does nothing, cant even get accessory power. I now have to tow it in to my mechanics for him to look at it

turns out to be a broken housing. $450 from the lexus dealer Nothing from toyota

Ouch. Did you tell them that part should be covered for at least 300,000?

broken ignition switch

i just found this thread and was wondering if anyone else has had this problem. my wifes 98 lx has suffered this same problem. when the key is inserted the auto tilt works but nothing else. no clicks between positions. no release of the steering lock. no acc power. no starter engagement. i had it towed home yesterday and started taking the dash apart. if anyone can offer advice i would greatly appreciate it. thanks.
owen

odoyle said:

i just found this thread and was wondering if anyone else has had this problem. my wifes 98 lx has suffered this same problem. when the key is inserted the auto tilt works but nothing else. no clicks between positions. no release of the steering lock. no acc power. no starter engagement. i had it towed home yesterday and started taking the dash apart. if anyone can offer advice i would greatly appreciate it. thanks.
owen

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Not overly common but have seen quite a few. The shaft behind the ign lock cylinder has broken. The shaft connects the lock cyl to the electrical part of the ign switch and also controls the mechanical steering lock. Two ways to fix - same parts involved.

Parts needed, Steering column collar (piece that ign lock cyl fits into)
2 break away bolts.

need to remove the ign lock cyl, and elec ign switch. You can either fineagle the shaft out of the collar housing and fish it out of the new on and reinstall or remove the whole collar. Need to chisel out old break away bolts and remove collar. Be careful on LX models because it is very easy to get the tele steering guides all screwed at this step.

hope this helps, ben

hi ben
thanks for the reply.you are exactly correct. the shaft had broken. i have been working on this for the last two days and finally got it wrapped up last night. i replaced the whole housing. the break away bolts were a real pain. drilled them out and used a screw extractor. luckily i used hex head cap types for reasembly just in case i have to do it again. which brings me to my new problem and need for more advice. after putting it back together was going to test drive and the steering wheel locked when turned as if the key was out of the ignition. key was in the ignition and the engine running. as of now the wheel does not lock with the key out. key in, motor running, turn the wheel and it locks. i'm going to start taking it apart agian now. any advice would be greatly appreciated because my plan now is to cut off the lock peg that goes into the column. i don't care if the wheel locks. if someone steals it oh well. thanks.
owen

same thing here

Part was $700 CAD and 1.5 hours to install. New cylinder and some bracket....

Stranded me withg accessories on, killed my battery, had to tow.
Ignition cylinder broken, turns out, there is a weak internal rod that can eventually break. Heres a description I got somewhere when I was doing some research for the fix. I didnt have time to play around so I just got it fixed and paid whatever it costs.

They had to reprogram a new key so I got a spare key out of the deal, yeah big deal...

Anyhow, here are some other details, Im not sure which site I got this from because I cut it and pasted it to my email...

carbonfiber
Jun 7 2005, 11:05 AM

Today, when I went to start my car, the ignition switch broke! The steering wheel adjusts like normal, but the key rotates left and right without any resistance and it's stuck in accessory mode. I'm assuming that I need to have the entire ignition switch replaced, but I thought I'd ask to see if anyone else has any experience with this. I haven't taken it apart yet, but my past experience with ignition switches in other cars is that there is no easy to way to repair them. Assuming that I need to replace it, is there a way to order one that is keyed for my car's existing set of keys? Thanks in advance!

carbonfiber
Aug 29 2005, 01:41 PM

Update: I got the switch fixed.

Here's what I did, so hopefully this will help the next poor soul that experiences this.

First off, my diagnosis was incorrect. The actual key tumbler cartridge was perfectly fine. The problem was with the cast aluminum rod that the key rotates to activate the various switches that operate the car. That rod is about 6 inches long and has several cams on it, a brass spring loaded blade that plugs into the key tumbler cartridge and a keyed end that plugs into a round shaped switch that has the spring inside it. In my case, the rod had an interal defect that caused it to have a weak spot and it snapped in half. Note to Lexus/Toyota: This is a poor design! This problem is due to poor engineering design. There is no excuse for using a cheap cast part rather than a machined part. I spent much time and effort attempting to order a new rod from Lexus and Toyota and finally determined that it is impossible to order this indivual part. They want to sell you the entire ignition switch assembly for over $800 and if you plan to do that, I recommend you spend another $600 to have it installed. You need special tools to remove the ignition switch assembly from the steering column and this is not a job for the feint of heart.

thanks to everyone for all the advice. i finished a while ago. took it completely apart again. it's a lot easier and quicker the second time around. glad i didn't use the snap off bolts. i was minutes away from cutting off the steering lock peg but decided to take another look at it. glad i did. the problem was with the shaft that broke on the old one. it needed to be rotated 180 degrees. it now works like new. until that shaft snaps again. my guess is it fails at the weak spot because of the steering lock mechanism. when it locks with the wheels turned and alot of weight on the peg that shaft has to release the peg. now that i think about it maybe i should have gotten rid of the lock peg. i would guess the shaft would never fail if it didn't have to release the lock. since this is the wifes rig i'm going to have to give her a lesson about turning the wheel to relieve the pressure before turning the key. thanks again.
owen

odoyle said:

thanks to everyone for all the advice. i finished a while ago. took it completely apart again. it's a lot easier and quicker the second time around. glad i didn't use the snap off bolts. i was minutes away from cutting off the steering lock peg but decided to take another look at it. glad i did. the problem was with the shaft that broke on the old one. it needed to be rotated 180 degrees. it now works like new. until that shaft snaps again. my guess is it fails at the weak spot because of the steering lock mechanism. when it locks with the wheels turned and alot of weight on the peg that shaft has to release the peg. now that i think about it maybe i should have gotten rid of the lock peg. i would guess the shaft would never fail if it didn't have to release the lock. since this is the wifes rig i'm going to have to give her a lesson about turning the wheel to relieve the pressure before turning the key. thanks again.
owen

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Sorry, i've been wheeling/camping since friday. But I was gonna tell you that yes the shaft can be installed 180 out and the column will lock. But sounds like you figured it out.

ben

Need to revive an old thread.... happened to me today... turned the key and nothing... the cast rod broke.. took apart the ignition and have 3/4 of the rod out but can't get the remaining 1/4 out. If I can get the whole thing out I was thinking of having it welded.. fiddled around w/ it for quite a while using a screw driving to hold a spring loaded "catch" and tried to hook it, but wouldn't budge... any one been through this before? Not sure if there's something else holding it in?? Trying to avoid taking the whole column out to replace the assembly...
Thanks for any insight.

I ended up replacing the bracket assembly Ben mentioned. Part # 45280-60510.. $180 locally (online $110). Steering/key work fine.. Now my issue is the horn doesn't work and the SRS (airbag) light stays on. I checked all plugs/fuses and they are fine. I'm wondering if they both pick up from the same power source- I always thought the SRS was independent. Any idea if they both use the same contact under the steering wheel or pad. I didn't take either off but I did have the whole column out. (twice 'cause I too made the 180 degree mistake!!)

sorry to hear you had the ignition failure. it's a real pain to replace. i didn't have any problems with the horn or air bag. i would pm ben. he will know. this is really strange that you just revived this thread. i haven't been on this forum in a little over a year and i see this thread in the new catagory on the first page. i came on to research doing the timing belt/water pump. have to decide to do it myself or take it in. it's past due. good luck with the horn/airbag problem.
owen

TMILL said:

I ended up replacing the bracket assembly Ben mentioned. Part # 45280-60510.. $180 locally (online $110). Steering/key work fine.. Now my issue is the horn doesn't work and the SRS (airbag) light stays on. I checked all plugs/fuses and they are fine. I'm wondering if they both pick up from the same power source- I always thought the SRS was independent. Any idea if they both use the same contact under the steering wheel or pad. I didn't take either off but I did have the whole column out. (twice 'cause I too made the 180 degree mistake!!)

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had this in my 00 lx this morning. hoping this is the fix...

2000 LX 470 said:

had this in my 00 lx this morning. hoping this is the fix...

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Finally got it back today at lunch. 5 days without my lx sucked. The bill for $778 sucked more. But it's fixed, it's back, and I'm glad it's done. They ended up covering the RX loaner for one night, and the Kia van from Enterprise for 5 nights, so not too bad overall.... (was steering bracket assembly and 4 hours labor.

Mine broke tonight. Left us sitting in the restaurant parking lot. I see about $750 for the Lexus, anyone have a repair cost for the Toyota? Less than $750?

depends on your dealerships hourly rates. Granted the toyota part will already be cheaper then the lexus part even for the same number!

Total cost was $870 including towing.

This should probably be added to the buyer's FAQ. It seems to be a metal fatigue issue that happens around 10 years old.

or six for me, just got the 49 page printout of all dealer work the other day, my ignition got replaced in 06.

Had this happen last week. Took it to the mechanic to fix with this thread. He looked at the ignition and it worked fine for him. He then greased the ignition and tested it extensively and everything worked. Wife was taking the kids in and it happened again, twice. Does this sound like the same issue described in this thread or can it be something else?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Have this problem today because it is superbowl sunday, got someone out to take it out and will get the part from dealership tomorrow, quote is $450, I will update tomorrow.