Hello guys!

Quite desperate here now!
After finding out that my crossfire needed a brand new ignition housing and barrel I went ahead and dashed out the cash for it. I bought the ignition housing (and please tell me that this is ok) from Auto Parts Warehouse | Car Parts, Truck Parts & Auto Body Parts Online - Free Shipping on most Auto Accessories & Performance Parts – AutoPartsWarehouse (PART # W0133-1607413) and the barrel from the Chrysler dealership. Now after going through all the trouble to replace everything, and after taking half the car apart to fit this new part, I now turn the key in the ignition, (which now turns smoothly), all the lights on the dashboard light up, but the car wont crank???

Any suggestions???

 

well, I will take a long shot here....if I were stealing this car, I would pull the barrel apart, and hot wire it....but, the security system in this car would shut it down...so, I'm thinking it may need reset....the skreen may be affected as well...just don't know without a little research...try the disconnect the battery for a half hour first...

 

what you wanna do is take off the negitive side of the battery. take that wire and touch it to the possitive side. hold it there for a min or 30 secs. what this dose is complete the circut. no sparks or nothing will occur. make sure nothing touches the negitive side of the battery though cause then sparks will fly. but doing this takes out all any energy or w,e left in campaitors or anything. completly resets the cars memory or anything. this has worked for me alot in the past. i used a jumper cable cause my negitive side wire couldnt reach my possitive. leave your possitive connected to your battery. good luck and let me know

 

Thank you very much for your quick reply "oledoc2u"! Indeed I am not trying to steal this car... but sometimes I wish someone would steal it for me so this nightmare would end! I've been having this problem ever since before Christmas last year. I could have sent it to the dealership and got it fixed for about $1500.00 USD, but by doing it my self I'm paying $250.00 (I hope), and that's a big difference!

But anyway, I've done some major research on this issue with the Crossfires (sticky key/ ignition problem/etc), and apparently this is a very common problem, and there are some really helpful guides out there on how to replace the housing and the barrel. I did find everything ok, and followed it to the letter. But now I can't find anything to do with this problem. When I first turned on the key, the light for the towing was flashing. My question is, does the key have some sort of code or anything like that? And is there a key sensor?

 

Hello Crossfire725... Thank you for the tip! I will give it a go, and let you know! But are you sure this won't burn anything up? Thanks.

 

I know you aren't stealing it, but it "the computer" doesn't know that. Probably should have turned the towing switch on while doing the work, or unplugged the battery...but, try the battery trick first and let us know...

 

Check two things, firstly that when you pulled everything off that you didn't by chance pinch the wire to the antenna ring that goes on around the tumbler and if that's all good, that you didn't pinch a wire or have one come out of the connector that the ignition cylinder plugs into. The tumbler and the anti-theft on this car are two separate systems that are not connected in any way other than the antenna ring snaps over the ignition cylinder to grab the ID from the key. As for learning the ID or having an issue with that, unless you're using different keys you shouldn't have to change anything as the IDs are in the ECU, not the skreem and all it's doing is passing the information along to the ECU to start or the CLS for locking/unlocking the car with the remote. You are using the same key your car came with right? If not, you will need to take the blade out of the donor key (the one you got with the ignition cylinder) and replace your original with it. It's not that hard with only having to remove the pin in the key and the blade slides right out but as an aside, make sure you also change the lock cylinder in the door or you may find yourself locked out of your car in the event that the battery dies or something similar that would prevent the keyless from working.

Good luck and if you have any questions, feel free to call me at 952-292-4477 and we can go over some stuff.

Take care,

Rudy

 

you don't want this guy around your car, 'cause he can steal it...lol Nice work Rudy...

 

Hello Rudy! It's only fair that I share my real first name with you now... I'm Ricardo! I thought this forum would be of great help, but I have never imagined in a million years that it would be this good! All of you guys have been of brilliant help, but your reply was spot on! Thank you very much!

Right, I just want to start by saying that the problem is now resolved, and I will tell you what happen, and truly if it weren't for your reply I would have spent some serious cash sending my car out to the dealership to get it looked at. So after installing this part I had installed it all cleanly as I explained on my first post, but then on mounting everything back I was trying to be smart, (or maybe just the IT techy in me) I did something that I'm used to do on my day job, to leave the carcass off and try the part installed before screwing everything back up, just in case I have to take it apart again and refit it. Well... that's the problem I left too much off! Including the antenna ring that you spoke off on your first line of your reply! (I thought that was merely decorative lol! I never thought it actually was an electronic part) SO... as soon as I read your first line I jumped (of happiness of course) on my seat knowing that had to be it! I have put the ring on now and the car started at first try!!! Woohoo!
Bro, thank you so much for all your help, and the fact that you have left your phone number in case I was really stuck, really gave me a sense of the sort of person you are! A brilliant one! Thanks for watching out for us newbies! God Bless!

 

Congrats on getting your problem resolved. You will find many people on here that will go out of their way to help you out in a time of need. That is what makes this community so great. Rudy is one of the best. He has helped me out in the past as well.

 

I've seen a lot of posts on how to replace the ignition lock, but how do you get the ignition unstuck in the first place? I'm having the same problem and have a locksmith friend working on my xf, but he can't get the cylinder out while the ignition is still stuck?
Any suggestions?

 

Mine suddenly turned after I"d loosened the bolt around the lock mechanism. Try shaking and moving stuff around a bit.

If that does not do it, word around here is that you will find yourself drilling the pin out.

Go to "TSBs and How-To Articles" and look at the top for "STicky Ignition Key Fix" and start reading.

 

after reading these post, I have to agree some real great guys on this forum who will helpout when needed !!! Thanks to all who make this such a great forum !!!!! I know Ive learned alot just reading here !!!!!!!!!

 

I have a feeling that my switch is starting to stick.
Every now and then the key is a little stiff (like me) and I have automatically turned the steering wheel and it is OK. Looking back on it, this has happened a few too many times lately, should I be worried?

 

Yea, I"d do the modification if I were you.

It's really not bad to do, it was the $100 tow home that bothered me! Do it now so you dont pay for a tow and have your day messed up!

 

Thanks, PizzaGuy. Those were the links I was looking for that contained the pdf with the pics of the ignition replacement and the locking pin location.

 

Pizzaguy, Can you forward the PDF file on the key ignition housing? I've put it back in but now they tell me the Bezel needs to be plug into it , but i can't get it out to locate the female plug anywhere in or on the unit itself.

 

180 do it now and it cost nothing but time.

 

Same think happened to me it turned out to be small chip in key