I am now part of this broken ignition rod club. 2001 LX470 with 272K miles, so it lasted a while. Luckily, It broke while parked in my parent’s driveway. I parked it almost in the center thinking it was a quick stop. Luckily, I didn’t completely block the garage door with the car in it. Because I gained so much knowledge from those who went before me, I like to add to this knowledge base. (This video was awesome:
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Paying it forward to help others. I’ll skip most of the removal procedure since it’s pretty straight forward. (I apologize if I’m not using the proper terminology.)
Helpful hint: When removing the black vent piece, hold onto the vent on the left as you yank out the bottom vent. Otherwise, you might end up pulling out left vent, which is a bear to put back.
1. To remove the smaller piece, I removed the white starter cap at the bottom. It helps to disconnect the two connectors at the bottom of the starter cap to get access to the screws to remove it. (Use a long Phillips screw driver). The tip of the rod fits into this white starter cap and rotating the rod is what starts the car. Once I removed the white starter cap, the broken piece became loose at the bottom. I fished it out using a 10 inch piece from a thick wire cloth hanger. Put a half inch, 90 degree bend at the end, and a one inch 90 degree bend on the other end, which will help as a handle and rotating the wire. Push aside the levers or cams on the inside of cylinder using a long flat screw driver or another wire piece from the cloth hanger with a slightly longer bend. (See pic 3)
2. I ordered a replacement rod from Amazon for $29. It came from Turkey but I received it in 4 days. Here’s the link for it. (see Pic 5-6) It looked the same as the old rod.
Amazon product ASIN B07H8G1QGZ
3. You have to remove the brass pieces from the old and use it in the new rod. To remove the pieces, push down on the smaller brass on the side and pull out the larger brass on the end. Tap out the large spring while holding down the small brass. Remove the small brass, and then tap out the tiny spring. Careful not to lose the small spring. It really is tiny. I had to run a metal fingernail file in the holes to deburr it. This should have been a clue.
4. I was impatient and went to my parent’s house an hour away to put it in, thinking it would be easy. I had trouble putting in the new rod. (Another clue). I finally got the new rod in and the car started right away after I connected the right wire to the black security ring. (It’s the white wire, not the black one.) Turning the key seemed stiff though. (Something told me that this could be problem. Another clue).
Helpful hint: I used a clamp to close the door indicator so the battery wouldn’t drain as I worked with the door open.
5. I couldn’t turn off the car. The key wouldn’t rotate to the left. The rod seems to be stuck at the ACC position. I spent several hours trying to pull out the rod. It was stuck. Nevertheless, I was able to get the car home so I could work on it while it was in my garage. After spending couple more hours at home, I still couldn’t pull the rod out. I thought I would have to take it to a dealership.
6. After sleeping on it, I rotated the rod so the small brass piece on the side was at the 12 O’clock position. I took a small hammer and tapped on the bottom of the rod, and the rod popped out. Easy-peasy.
7. When I looked closer and measured the old and the new rod with a caliper, I noticed that the new rod was thicker and the cams were taller or wider. I Dremel down the tip to match the original. I Dremel down the first two cams that put pressure on the rod. (See pics 7-10). I angled the cams more than the original now knowing how it worked. This should help the rod rotate with less pressure on the cams as it pushes the lever aside. I put white lithium grease on all the cams and some on the levers at the bottom of the cylinder. The new rod went in easily.
8. I didn’t take any pictures of the new rod after I worked on it. Once again, I was impatient to try it out. I hope this helps. Good luck.
Pics 6-10 on the next post.
