My 2005 Base came down with the sticky key malady. Looking through the old posts found the thread by Rekcah etc. This tutorial is Very well done, BTW. Overall, it went very well. Before I took it apart, I had priced the assembly from Chrysler at over $350. Mercedes wanted $149. These were supposed to be jobber prices.

A few comments/suggestions/questions:

Step#16. This step is to push in the locking pin while you:

"ROTATE THE ASSEMBLY COUNTER-CLOCKWISE WHILE PUSHING THE SILVER LOCKING PIN IN AND PULL IT TO THE RIGHT AND ITS OUT!"

This is a minor point, but CCW and CW are not clear as to which way to turn it. CCW looking toward steering column does not seem to work as it is physically stopped from further movement to the right by a steel tube that appears to be part of the dash bracing. turning it Clockwise about 180 degrees (looking into the shaft toward the steering column) and it cleared the tube in the dash.

My suggestion is to use a phrase along the lines of "rotate the lock assembly clockwise looking at the steering column (so that the front of the switch goes up) to clear brace in dash and pull to the right.

Step 12 seems to only apply to automatics. It calls for the detaching of the "PARKING INTERLOCK" which attaches a black cable to the lock assembly. Mine did not have this cable. Is this for the automagicals only? Mine is a six speed.

Big question is the part that applies to "RE-USING OLD ASSEMBLY". No problem doing what it calls for, but being curious, I reassembled the assembly with the key and all. Turning the key still causes the steering column "dead bolt" to move out. My desire was to disable this thing entirely. Not sure what removing the spring does, but it does not disable the lock mechanism itself.

After a bit of head scratching, I decided to amputate the entire end of the dead bolt, cutting it back about 1/2", housing and all. This leaves pleanty of housing to be fastened to the steering column clamp. Turning the key still moves what is left inside the housing shaft back and forth, but it is now too short to engage the steering column.

End result is that the key works! Smooth as silk. One little side benefit - I left the key reminder wire off. No more annoying buzz if I am cleaning car with the radio on!

All in all, that was a great write up. Thanks to Rekcah, drhrsh, BobG and onehundred80.

I am a member of a number of forums, BMW, Mazda RX7, Mazda MX5, Mercedes and Triumphs - but this one rocks. Great technical info that I have used on my personal Crossfire has saved me hundreds of dollars.

Henry