Yet another broken ignition…how to best diagnose?

[Shiggy]

Was on my way to work in the ‘01 LX470, stopped for some starbs because I just had to have my pumpkin spice, and when I got back in I inserted my key, turned it, and felt a pop. Now the key turns freely inside the ignition cylinder. I feel catches kind of inbetween lock and acc, and then the main catch is right before start (where it broke). The steering wheel does the auto lift thing but no other dash lights come up.

I’m reading multiple things about what this could be, ignition lock cylinder, shaft, etc. My question is how can I best diagnosis what actually failed? For the full replacements I’ve seen the threads on how to do them but I’ve also heard about temporary fixes I’m pretty open to for the time being.
Secondarily I’m kind of thinking about just doing keyless start, if I were to go that route what would be the best kit? I see MPC has a remote start system for ‘98-‘02 land cruisers but my paranoia has me worried that may not work as a full replacement for my actual keyed ignition.

 

[Malleus]

Transmission?

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Good thread in the FAQ on the ignition cylinder and cam rod.

 

[Shiggy]

Transmission?

Edit: just realized I somehow auto corrected from ignition to transmission lol
Transmission was locked. Popped the cap on the override button or whatever so I could get it in neutral for the tow (which locked the steering wheel…yay). But yeah, transmission was locked since I couldn’t get accessory on. Gonna be something in the ignition cylinder

 

[Shiggy]

Good thread in the FAQ on the ignition cylinder and cam rod.

Good callout, that one hadn’t popped up for me yet. The first common failure I’d seen called out was actually that steering column assembly they’re talking about in the thread.
I guess for now I need to just pop off the panel under my steering wheel and look around when I get back home. Just want to get a positive ID on the failure before ordering parts.
Most similar stories of the failure all seem to point to that column assembly, though it seems to be the ignition lock cylinder barrel rod breaking. Idk, gonna keep digging. Hopefully I can just replace the barrel rod which seems cheap enough…though a good video I found had the same failure but still calls out the whole column assembly as the needed part

Edit: Looks like there’s no OEM cylinder rod replacement so the oem part is the entire column assembly. I’m seeing a $16 ignition cylinder, part # 7853B listed for ‘98-‘02 Land Cruiser. Just trying to get a positive ID on the exact part number for the LX since there’s some discussion on whether that part does or doesn’t work in the lexuv. Gonna go push start eventually so don’t care about longevity of that part tbh