OMG! I can't believe I'm back again, but know I'm in the right place. A weeks or so ago I turned the truck on and the shifter remained locked when I tried to put it in "D". I turned the truck off then restarted it and the shifter worked fine. I should not have continued to drive it, but did. Last night when leaving a pizza shop the shifter remained locked and restarting did not help. I then put some muscle into it and forced it into gear. I drove home and managed to put it into "P", but the key switch would not turn off. I had to pull the distributor wire to shut the truck off and disconnect the battery to kill the power. As a side note the steering wheel was always loose and sloppy. A video I watched a while ago indicates three star bolts that needed to be tightened to take the slop out. I never did that because I was hesitant about disassembling the steering column. Those bolts may have nothing to do with it but I want give a complete picture. Can anyone diagnose the problem and let me know what I'm in for? Thanks.
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
Column shifter locked when key turned on
- Thread starter GaBnn3
- Start date
Welcome back.
Those 3 bolts need to be delt with.
I am guessing the rack and pinion for the ignition switch are out of time from being forced. The pinion is plastic on the key cylinder and designed to fail if jammed.
The shift lever is unlocked by pull the lever toward you in the seat, then selecting thegear you need. I will need to look up exactly how that works,i am confusing ford columns with gm columns atm
Those 3 bolts need to be delt with.
I am guessing the rack and pinion for the ignition switch are out of time from being forced. The pinion is plastic on the key cylinder and designed to fail if jammed.
The shift lever is unlocked by pull the lever toward you in the seat, then selecting thegear you need. I will need to look up exactly how that works,i am confusing ford columns with gm columns atm
There's a utube video of a guy rebuilding 86 tilt column. It was very helpful to me.
It reminds me of the time I backed one of the 5.3L trucks out and as I put it in D, the column shifter went floppy. Realizing that something had just broken with the linkage, I went out of my driveway and down the road to where I was sure I could turn around without any backing up. It went right back in the garage where I shut it off. Sure enough, the little clip that holds the cable to the transmission had just broken. Very easy to drop it in P from underneath and a quick mod to a random old throttle cable clip and it was fixed. I sure got lucky because that could have been way worse, and I just happened to jump in that car which my wife usually drives.
Since I've been no help, I can at least point to a couple of threads:
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/ignition-won’t-turn-off.344564/#post-4205985
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/steering-column-problems-bout-ready-to-turn-green.348710/
Since I've been no help, I can at least point to a couple of threads:
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/ignition-won’t-turn-off.344564/#post-4205985
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/steering-column-problems-bout-ready-to-turn-green.348710/
so the steering lock plate pin, is retracted be the key cylinder and releases the lock for the shift lever. At this point I think you plan on digging into the column and fixing the loose tilt bolts. inspect the rack and pinion for damage, and repair that if needed. the shift lever lock mechanism may just need lube, or repair, or it can be removed.
Ordered rack and pinion kit and tools from LMC just in case. It was cheap enough. Will keep you posted. Thanks again.
Just wanted to finally close this thread out. This became a complete column rebuild. I ran into a few lesser included problems along the way leading to related threads as I sought help on those sub-issues during the rebuild. The cause of the problem was originally a broken shift gate which explains the out of range shift lever. I never came to understand why the ignition cylinder got stuck in the on position. But with all the new parts, including ignition cylinder, this is not an issue with the rebuilt column. Thanks to all who provided input. This site is a tremendous resource to guys like me. Thanks again.
