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Followup To
Question -
'98 T&C, at first intermittent, but now continuous problem with ignition going into a "frozen" condition after the car has been turned off for a minute or so. Car runs fine, but when turned off and placed in park, cannot be turned on, key won't turn, transmission stuck in park, and only by jiggling with it (the key and the shift lever) will it eventually release its "locked condition" and start normally (after a minute or three). But its getting very bad and now has done this continuously for a day now. Obvious repair needed. I'm guessing some kind of faulty ignition "interlock" or other electrical problem, but I am a car dummy, and bow to your experience in these matters! TIA!
Answer -
Hi Wes,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. My ISP (SBC/Yahoo/PACBELL) collapsed a few minutes after your question arrived and wasn't running again until 2 AM so I didn't see it till this morning.
I have the '93 Chrysler shop manual and it does indeed speak about what to do when you have this problem. I suspect the steering column and ignition switch in your '98 is identical but can't be sure. The ignition switch is removable and then the parts of the switch that interconnect to the steering column are examined for binding and flash which is corrected by filing. Because of the details in the process and the difficulty in describing all the parts I would find it much more efficient and accurate if I xerox copied the pages from the electrical switch removal and the steering column interface pages and postal mailed them to you. I could do that today so it goes in the afternoon mail if that is soon enough. If so, drop me an address to which I should mail it, no charge.
Roland
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Thanks a million for your quick response, Roland!
Because this was a "go/no go" problem in my wife's car (and she had to go!), we delivered it last night (after struggling to get it started as described) to a local repair shop who this morning has confirmed your thinking, and will perform the repair for $120 or so. They are getting a replacement ignition key cylinder from Chrysler because it has to be keyed to our VIN in order to retain our current key compatibility. So apparently it is a mechanical problem within the cylinder itself. What has me still puzzled is the way the problem would only engage (that is, "lock" the ignition) after several seconds would elapse from being turned off. If I attempted to start the car immediately, or a few seconds after being turned off, it would start normally with no problem. After that it would consistently "lock." That's what led me to believe there was some sort of electrical factor (because I've also had some other strange electrical symptoms over the past months -- but that's an issue for another time!)
You have been a tremendous help in assuring me that the mechanic is on the right track and will address the true problem at what seems a reasonable price. I'm very appreciative of your willingness to offer your expertise and advice. I won't be doing the repair myself, and thus will not need the excerpt from the repair manual. But thanks very much for offering!
Thanks, Wes Jordan
AnswerHello Wes.
I thought about your report back, and then about what the manual had described and while the issue could be the lock cylinder, what was shown in the manual was actually involved with the interconnecting pieces on the lock mechansim and the steering column mechanism which really doesn't involve the key cylinder. So if it turns out that the key cylinder doesn't fix it, that other mechanical interface should be examined. Again, if the mechanic doesn't have the manual let me know and I'll send the pages.
Roland
