QuestionQUESTION: i have a 1996 ford thunderbird 4.6 liter V8. i started my
car the other day and heard a small pop during the key turn.
(mechanical) not electrical. when i got home i couldn't turn
my car off. i pulled battery cables to shut it off. so i
went out and bought a new ignition lock cylinder and
replaced it. well that didn't work. it still feels like its
not catching whatever its supposed to to shut off. can you
please help or at least give me the part name and if its a
hard job to replace. thanks, Adam.
Ford Rack Actuator
ANSWER: Hi Adam:
It sounds like the white plastic "Rack actuator" gear has broken. There is a small pin on the end that falls out. It's a very common problem but requires a bit of work and experience to replace it. It is buried inside the column. The steering wheel, both covers, the turn signal switch, the lock cylinder, the actuator gears inside the lock housing, the upper bearing retainers, the tilt housing (tilt and non-tilt columns use the same housing) all have to come apart to access this rack gear. Once it's apart, the new rack needs to be shaved slightly to fit in properly. Then during assembly, the gears for the lock cylinder need to be realigned properly to hit all the key positions. If you miss by 1 tooth, it is very difficult to get the lock cylinder out again to correct it without breaking it. I would not recommend doing this one yourself unless you're confident in your skills.
A good repair shop should charge you about 2 hours labor to do it
We have recently uploaded pages and a description of how to rebuild this upper portion of a Ford steering column. They are broken down into step by step detailed instructions on our website. Although the example is for a 2000 Mustang, the column is identical to yours (tilt and non tilt use the same housing)
http://www.stolenandrecovered.com/howto/fordupper.php
I hope these instructions help you. If not, please contact me again for more information.
Lastly, if you need parts to repair this column simply follow the links to the Ford Parts pages and select any of the parts you need. the part that broke is a "Rack05" rack actuator.
http://stolenandrecovered.com/parts2/ford.php#A4
Feel free to email us on our "Contact Us / Order Parts" page and we will get back in touch with you personally. We stock and sell all of the parts you will need for this job.
Good luck
Doug
http://www.stolenandrecovered.com
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: i'm also having a hard time finding the part. its sounds like
it a bigger job than i can handle. damn. money is tight. guess
ill just have to let it sit for a while. thanks for the info.
you helped a lot!
AnswerAdam:
As I stated earlier, we sell the part (you can order it online for $22.23 plus tax & shipping) and we have the instructions (step-by-step) posted on our website.
http://www.stolenandrecovered.com/parts2/ford.php#A4
Certainly though, it's your call.
Doug
