Wickedgood911

With no humidity and 65F, this morning was just perfect for a windows-down romp on some back roads.

Anyway, I went to shut off the car in the garage and there was noticeable resistance when turning the key to the left and was hard to remove the key from the ignition. Can a lubricant be used inside the ignition tumbler or is this an early sign of failure?

Hope everyone enjoys a ride over this weekend!

FRUNKenstein

Search for ignition switch failure and you will find mucho info. Very common failure. Easy DIY fix that will cost you $12.50 at NAPA for the part. Took me all of 19 minutes to swap out. Some will say you must be a contortionist to perform this repair, but I'm 50 yrs old and 250 pounds, so it ain't that bad. You'll need a small Phillips head screwdriver, but just the tip (like what you would load into an electric drill). Also, you don't need to remove the left side of the dash, like it says in some of the DIY guides, just disconnect the air duct above the clutch & brake pedals and you can get to the switch without removing anything else.

Wickedgood911

Thanks KC, I'll keep an eye on the ignition and heed your advice.

DTMiller

Exact symptoms of my ignition switch failure.

Hurdigurdiman

Although no hint of mine ever sticking, I have sprayed a little WD40 on the key shaft and into the key hole in an effort to prevent the key from sticking and the tumblers or whatever to run smoothly. That was about 6 months ago and still working smoothly. It wouldn't harm for you to at least try that method first.

DTMiller

Don't do this. Your ignition switch is failing. Go on napa.com and get the part and replace it.

5CHN3LL

Yup. Spend the 20 bucks and get it fixed, rather than messing with it and risk breaking the key off.

ChicagoSpeed996

Yep, NAPA and $12 will get you right. Oh and 30 minutes with a clutch pedal imprint in your forehead.

DTMiller

We need a special section for Hurdi. Maybe "Hurdi's Hunches" where you can post "creative" solutions to known issues.

White smoke at start up? Shove some bananas in the tailpipes to keep it from coming out. Sensitive electrical component acting up? Spray some WD-40 in there! Leaves in your radiator? Head to Home Depot and get some chain link fence cut to size!

Wickedgood911

Hurdi always comes through with good advice

Whether it be WD40 or duct tape, both will fix all issues including pending IMS failures and permanent fixes to RMS leaks!!

DTMiller

Check out this thread -- my posts have a link to the correct part (at least for a 2002) and some DIY instructions.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...on-switch.html

Hurdigurdiman

hahaha.. or simply buy the part and DIY it. Funny I haven't had to do mine. Or probably will ever have too. It's whats called DIY PM. Never needed a mechanic working on my car in the past 27,000 miles. Have you? Just saying.

DTMiller

Nevermind.

Wickedgood911

Thanks for the link Miller!

Hurdigurdiman

Let the pissing match begin lol.... I think logically but obviously you don't. I look for PM first. Then figure why something happened. I have to know how something ticks (so to speak). If I can find a simpler way to cure or prevent the problem I will find it. If I can't then I would have a more technical person do it for me. I don't mind laying upside down under the dash board but if I did have to change the ignition, I would (every 6 months) add a little spot of WD40 on the key in an effort to prevent it ever happening again. You would not as you don't think logically as I do. You see young man, I can figure things out, even the internet. I won't bore you by giving you links to my many pages on the net or to my videos underwater or flying my plane. I wouldn't mind seeing yours though. That's if you can figure out how to post a link to this page hahahahaha.