Fun story. Brother borrowed my dads 92 s10 blazer which has a bad ignition cylinder. You cant turn it all the way back or it wont roll forward. Been this way for a while. dad just got used to not turning it all the way back. brother knows about it too,but his gf didnt.(she turned it off when he was pumping gas)


he called me at 2am last night stuck at a gas station 10 min from me..You could usually wiggle the key around and it'll roll forward. After a hour wiggling etc i decided to dig into the thing and get the cylinder out just so i can get it home. I got the wheel off without a puller (and busted my lip for slamming it in my face) and removed the little clip that holds the locking plate on with a tiny flathead and pliers. Well,i basically tore it all up because 1. ive never been that deep into it,2. cheaper then a 100.00 tow when i can get a complete column at the pull it yard for 25 bucks. Hopefully i can find one thats not loose like most s10's and has the key with it.




So,i never looked at it today since ive had a cold. How easy is it to get it out? I did one on a taurus a few weeks ago. had it out in 15 minutes..it was 4 bolts and a few wires. Is this just as easy or did i really punk myself over?

 

they arent to bad. especially if youre taking it out of the junkyard you can just cut the wires. its basically like a fullsize trucks. you just got the one bolt under the hood connecting it to the gear box. disconnect the column shifter (this can suck if the cotter pin is rotted in there due to lack of room) then like two bolts holding it up directly under the dash board then maybe 4-5 towards the firewall on the inside of the truck.

call around, sometimes they have them already pulled with the ignition. its rare to find them with the keys, so not only do you have to pay for a new one, your back at square 1 again cause you have to tear it apart. might be leaving out something but its pretty self explanatory. bring socket set and a pry bar

i bought a column a few years back for a 90 fullsize with the key already pulled for 100 bucks

 

Why not just replace the ignition cylinder?

 

because i didnt have the tools at 2am to disassemble it correctly,and any towing service here is $100+ bucks. So its cheaper to buy one for 30 bucks at the pull it yard.

Sometimes they still have keys with them. Maybe il get lucky. If not,i guess im having someone install the cylinder. I dont understand how the turn signal pieces in the column go back in,and i dont wanna buy/rent tools to fix it. shop here quoted me 40.00 to change the cylinder for me if i MUST do that.



Wanna know the worse part? I didnt renew my AAA towing last month. I coulda had it towed for free!!