What the eff did I do wrong?

[willy88]

My ignition switch pin actuator broke. So I replaced it naturally. Had to go and find a replacement that fit, cause the initial one I bought was set out of place. Finally found one that works. Put it in. Assembled every thing together. Everything went together smoothly. But then I took the key out of the cylinder and now the ignition is registering as if the key was still in the cylinder, meaning door ajar alarm is beeping and I can't lock my doors immediately upon exiting. I did everything under the son to try and fix it. I believe that I need to reset something or the replacement pin is getting caught up somewhere within. Any advice is better than no advice. I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[QuickSilver]

Don't know if this will work, but sometimes the simplest solutions are the ones that work. Disconnect your negative battery terminal and leave it off for 15 -30 minutes. This might reset the ignition alarm.

 

[Billwill]

My ignition switch pin actuator broke. So I replaced it naturally. Had to go and find a replacement that fit, cause the initial one I bought was set out of place. Finally found one that works. Put it in. Assembled every thing together. Everything went together smoothly. But then I took the key out of the cylinder and now the ignition is registering as if the key was still in the cylinder, meaning door ajar alarm is beeping and I can't lock my doors immediately upon exiting. I did everything under the son to try and fix it. I believe that I need to reset something or the replacement pin is getting caught up somewhere within. Any advice is better than no advice. I'd greatly appreciate it.

Common problem....the actuator arm has a "sliver" protuding down its center....this sliver extends further when the key is inserted in the ignition and causes a small switch to make in the ignition switch assembly telling the ECM that the key is in place.

Some of these actuators come with the "sliver" a bit too long so it makes the switch even when there is no key. You need to carefully trim the end of this sliver to make it a bit shorter...don't take off too much..so that with the key in place the sliver only now presses on the switch.

An alternative is to space the ignition switch assembly a bit further away from this sliver by means of spacers or washers.

 

[willy88]

Wouldn't I just be able to clip the tip of the plastic pin, in theory?

 

[willy88]

Voila! I tried all the above but what I ended up doing was snipping just about a millimeter or two from the tip of the plastic pin that pushes the indicator for the ignition recognition. Thanks for the input fellas.

 

[Billwill]

Voila! I tried all the above but what I ended up doing was snipping just about a millimeter or two from the tip of the plastic pin that pushes the indicator for the ignition recognition. Thanks for the input fellas.

That's basically what I was trying to tell you to do:icon_biggrin:

 

[jguthrie]

Common problem....the actuator arm has a "sliver" protuding down its center....this sliver extends further when the key is inserted in the ignition and causes a small switch to make in the ignition switch assembly telling the ECM that the key is in place.

Some of these actuators come with the "sliver" a bit too long so it makes the switch even when there is no key. You need to carefully trim the end of this sliver to make it a bit shorter...don't take off too much..so that with the key in place the sliver only now presses on the switch.

An alternative is to space the ignition switch assembly a bit further away from this sliver by means of spacers or washers.

Anyone have any pics of what to cut? I swapped mine out and the car thinks the key is always in the ignition, which really messes with the alarm and so on.

I've disassembled the ignition switch actuator so many times that I'm very familiar with it, but I don't know specifically what to cut.

Where is the switch, inside the Ignition Switch? I have most of my stock unit and a spare, so I can try various things So far I've cut the plastic tip of the ignition switch actuator which goes into the ignition switch. I thought maybe it was pushing into there making a contact. No change. I swapped out the actuator that broke (just the die cast metal) into the stock ignition switch and ignition switch actuator housing, still beeps like a key is present.

 

[Billwill]

I do not have any pics but basically there is a seperate single contact inside the ignition switch...this gets pushed in as apposed to the rest of the ignition switch that turn around.

The actuator rod is a rectangular die-cast piece of metal which has a hole down its center...a small plastic sliver peeks out the end of this hole when the key is pushed all the way in and this sliver pushes on the single contact to sense that the key is all the way in the ignition slot.

I have seen reports of this sliver being a bit to long so it prutudes even when no key is present so you need to slightly trim this sliver.

I have seen other reports where the rectangular bar itself is a bit too long so it presses on the contact....this is fixed by either trimming the end of the actuator off or by adding some washers as spacers to move the actuator assembly a bit further away from the ignition switch.

I think it all depends on the supplier of the actuator assembly as what the problem could be. Possibly this contact inside the ignition switch in your case has welded itself together so it always thinks a key is in place or you have a short to ground.

The 2006 Circuit Diagrams show that a Violet/Tan wire goes from the BCM to pin 5 of the ignition switch which is the one side of the switch contact. When the contact is made a Black wire leaves the ignition switch at pin 10 and goes to ground. So you could have a short to ground somewhere of the Violet/Tan wire which has the same effect as having the key in the slot.....you need to measure the continuity of this contact to make sure it is not welded together and check that only the Black wire goes to ground.