Let me start off by saying , "Never let friends touch your car" I was fixing a starter wire on my 89 today, I had a friend sit in the car turning the ignition switch to start the car when I told him to.. I think he turned it a little to hard because now when I get in the car to start it, every once in awhile the ignition switch will go to the on position, but when I try to turn it farther to ingage the starter , it won't go any further..It's like it hits a block and won't turn to the position needed to make the starter ingage...What could be causing the switch to stick, and not let me turn it any farther then the "on" position?. ..Do you think it's the ignition switch , or is there something else it could be?.....Thanks .....WW

 

I has a similar problem. But I could not turn it off if I did not start it in just the "right" way. I lived with it for a while.

I knew where I was going to end up. I did change the lock cylinder. It just wore out. Got the steering wheel puller and lock plate release tool from AutoZone (lend program). I did have to get new ignition keys. It was no problem, it just costs money. I got a good deal from a locksmith I have been using, 3 keys = $75. The lock cylinder was not very expensive from EBay.

I just had to snake one wire set down the column which was no big deal to connect the VATS wire. You had to be nice to the PKE switch re-installing it but you don’t have one.

I never had to pull the wheel on the vette before. Definitely a learning experience but when it was over, did not seem to bad (now that I'm smarter ).

 

Help needed.........WW

 

Your situation is likely a part failure of one or a combination of these three parts, the lock cylinder, the nylon pinion gear or the rack and rod from the column top side to the switch itself on the column mast jacket.

I'd remove the hush panel and see if you can manually crank the car by moving the rod at the switch. If the rod is loose and easily moved around it's possible it's the rack and rod. I'd check that first because it requires very little effort. All of the failures will likely require the disassembly of a portion of the column.

You might want to gather a couple parts that normally break when the telescopic column is disassembled.

In this FSM section the parts other than the cylinder are the sector and rack on page 3B5-8. The pdf is from "Agent86" and it should be in your FSM in the same vicinity.

http://dankai.shawwebspace.ca/asset/...ing_column.pdf

This post covers some thoughts and I posted a link where you can "zoom" some of the parts.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...lumn-help.html

In this link the top two items are the most frequently broken. I'd get the insulator for sure:

http://www.steeringcolumnservices.co...opic-parts.php

If you were real fortunate the "Locking pin spring" could be the only failure and is binding. 3B5-4 #26 I believe. It's also in the link I provided.

Your local guy should have a GM #7844651 which would include the rack, sector and spring with a couple bearings you don't likely need. The actuator rod which usually doesn't fail but certainly can is a separate part. That's #49 in 3B5-4, GM # 7840683.

 

Thanks Dave, appreciate the help......WW