TheLastPriest

So this is a continuation of a troubleshooting thread from earlier today, initially the car wouldn't even crank with the security light blinking wildly, though diagnosis we found we could get it to fire up no problem so long as i pushed in atat the same time i turned the key, this tells me that something its failing in the ignition cylinder, i was hoping to lay myself at the mercy of the collective knowledge of the forum, what part would be failing to cause such a thing

Thank you in an advance
-TLP

godesshunter

Mine is a series 2 with the credit card key, but I believe the theory may be the same.

With my car, when I open the door and get in, the "Key" light is blinking red on the dash. From there, I push inward (stove **** style) as you are describing. That triggers the car to send out a signal looking for the electronics inside the smart key. Once it picks up the signal the red blinking "Key" light turns green and allows me to turn the start ****.

A key with a deteriorated battery inside may not allow the car to recognize that you are using the correct key to try to start. Im not sure if the older style keys have a battery or how at actually all works technically.

Somewhat unrelated but may be something to look into. On several Jeep WJ grand cherokees in the past, I have had to replace the whole lock cylinder with a new coded key and anti-theft module because they go bad quite frequently. The module on that jeep is somewhat easy to change as it is right on the steering column and the sensor wraps around the lock cylinder.

j9fd3s

generally if it is the ignition switch its either the mechanical lock, or the electrical switch.

it sounds like the key is physically hard to turn, so that would be the lock.

to get the right lock, which comes with the electrical switch, you need the vin, as there are a few different ones, depending on the year and model. plus you need to get someone to rekey it.

the electrical switch is GP7A-66-151, list price is $104.05

TheLastPriest

thank you, the key is actually quite easy to turn. it just doesnt do anything unless pushed and turned

j9fd3s

hard to say without feeling that first hand.

TheLastPriest

Just to update in case anyone is having the same issue, I found that pushing down on the top of the steering column while turning "solves" the issue, no inward pressure required, so there is a loose connection in there somewhere, I will update when ive had some time to pull the column apart and figure out exactly what it is