Key Just Turns

For the life of me I can't figure out what happened. My stock ignition switch (lock) ears were about done and I wanted to replace the assembly before they actually broke. I bought a new one from Autozone and went to work on it tonight.

I removed the lower cover of the steering column because I couldn't seem to find the release. After that it was cake, I removed the stock one, installed the new one, turned it back to seat the pin, and then turned it forward and everything worked grand.

After that it was time to start working on my alarm install. When it got to the time to start testing steering column wires I had to turn the key forward to test the ignition wire and the key turned forward but nothing happened. The cylinder doesn't turn normal because it feels like it isn't turning anything. It will still lock at the off position and if I remove the key I can't turn it. It will also stop at the turned back accessory position.

I removed it and replaced it with the stock one and it does the same thing.

I looked down into the hole without any lock in it and all I see is some yellow looking grease, a gasket looking piece, and that's about it.

I can't figure out for the life of me what's wrong, does anyone have any idea? The only part of the steering column that I worked on was removing the two hex bolts that hold the big wiring block onto the bottom of the the steering column. I don't see how that could be relevant but I thought I'd include it anyways.

Thanks.

I just went back out and took a look around but I couldn't see anything like what you were talking about. Could you describe it and its location or have a picture by chance?

Searching on here didn't come up with anything and Google barely did either, but I found one person with a '97 Mustang with the same problem, except his accessories were stuck on even with his key removed. One person replied with this:

"It sounds like the white plastic "Rack actuator" gear has broken. It's a very common problem and requires quite a bit of work and experience to replace it. It is buried inside the column. The airbag, the steering wheel, the turn signal switch, both covers, the lock cylinder, the tilt housing (and spring), the actuator gears inside the lock housing and the upper bearings all have to come apart to access this gear. Once it's apart, the new part needs to be shaved to fit properly and then the gears need to be realigned properly to hit all the key positions. I would not recommend doing this one yourself.
A good repair shop should charge you about 2 hours labor to do it and the part costs about $12.00
The part has to come from Ford only, (not a parts store) & the part # is F2DZ 3E723 A. Your rack gear is the long yellow plastic one in the bottom of the photo.
I hope this helps you."

It seems too coincidental for this to be true, but I guess anything is possible.

Morning update.

After letting the car sit until I could start calling a few local places about looking at it I started putting panels back together so the car wouldn't be so messy. I checked the key cylinder one more time and now it won't turn at all. Something has to broken inside the column.

I'll have it towed and update when this all gets figured out.

Got the car back this morning.

He replaced the ignition switch. It was sitting in the passenger seat with a huge crack right down it. I for the life of me can't figure out how that could have happened. I also can't figure out how the ignition switch could cause the lock cylinder problems that I was having. He didn't have to do anything with the lock cylinder at all, but I had the previously mentioned problems of it spinning but not doing anything and then not turning at all.

Does anyone else see how these could be related?

EDIT: Some thoughts after some reading. I looked up a how-to on removing the ignition switch. The directions state to put the key into the run position before removing the switch. I unbolted the switch to make it easier for me to probe the wires to check for voltage, but I didn't realize that the switch was mechanically driven. When I tried to turn my key into the on position (because I didn't do that prior to removing it) there was no resistance because the ignition switch wasn't being moved. I thought about what I could have done to cause things to stop working and knew the only thing I did was unbolt the switch, so I put it back but I didn't tighten it down. My guess is that once I tried to turn the key without the switch properly tightened down, undue stress was placed on the unit causing it to crack the way it did. After letting it sit part of the assembly got stuck on itself not allowing the switch to move thus not allowing my lock cylinder to turn.

It would seem that my own lack of experience/knowledge of the functionality of the ignition switch and a few ill timed mistakes were my own undoing. Fortunately it was an inexpensive fix and a learning lesson. Hopefully this thread will prevent someone else from doing the same thing.