Found another post - apparently the purpose of the pin is to couple a small amount of force to the key mechanism when turning the steering wheel near the lock position. Interesting

 

Great fix tutorial! I have a nice standard transmission '06 Roadster with a telescoping wheel that has the stick key syndrome that was getting worse. I followed the fix instructions up to paragraph 10 but now no longer can get the key to turn to position 1 I tried for hours jiggling the key and steering wheel with no success. I looked through the Forum and YouTube looking for some instructions on what to do now but found nothing. Does anyone know of any posts/threads/videos that address this problem?

 

Hi Strechman, Removing that pin does indeed fix the sticky key problem, now it turns smooth as a baby. It appears that the purpose of the pin may have been to prevent the steering from being unlocked if for example the ignition lock was popped out, (by force) so that even if the ignition is hot-wired and the popped ignition is turned to attempt to un-lock the steering wheel, the wheel would remain locked , I have a key without the chip to unlock my doors and before the fix it couldn’t unlock the steering. Interesting.

 

If the key will not turn to position one you will have to grind the pin as shown in the tutorial. The turning of the key to position one allows that pin to be push in.
See post #428 and read the earlier tutorials.

 

Thanks 180 and everyone, I finally got my ignition removed. It took about two weeks, including the time for the Dremel tool to arrive.

I wanted to add that I used this procedure for a broken key stuck rather deep in the ignition. The tumbler was of course locked in position, so the problem required much of the same procedure. Let's hope a locksmith can remove the half key now, or my beautiful '04 Illuminati Crossfire will be totaled at 97k mile, despite the $20k in repairs since 79k mikes, despite the chrome 20"s, etc. I'm coming to terms with the possibility that I may lose her for something so dumb.

 

There must be a locksmith somewhere can remove the broken key. What a shame would to retire the car just for a key.

 

I cannot see your problem.

 

Well, if anyone ever wondered how long a technical post is good for, I can tell you that it's at LEAST 20 years, and hopefully much longer.
I started developing a sticky key while on my trip around the U.S. this summer. From June until August, I put 10,000 miles on the car and it worked perfectly the entire time. I had just picked it up in March, and spent the intervening time doing all the flushing, lubing and servicing that it probably never had in it's 28K miles of former service as a "Pet Car" during which it accumulated about 1500 miles per year, or about 125 miles per month. That apparently was just enough to keep it reliable, without adding a lot of mileage.
I went to Iowa to buy it, found it in Grinell at Wes Finch Auto Sales, for $9500, with 28K on the odometer and a clean carfax. The car was far better than described, in fact, it looked absolutely brand new, without a scratch on it. I drove it home from Iowa to Arizona over the next 4 days, praying that none of the problems I read about on this forum would show themselves, and I was fortunate that everything went well, the trip was a success, and the car was a delight in EVERY way! I had it temp registered and insured to drive it home, but made the trip with only a piece of paper in the back window that said
"In Transit". I wondered as I drove off the dealer lot if that was going to be enough, or if I was going to stopped every 50 miles. I didn't get stopped a single time, even though I had cops around me frequently.
As soon as I got it home, I spent the next couple of months draining fluids, changing filters and lubricating everything I could think of.

On my 10K trip to Wisconsin and back, the car performed flawlessly. About 2/3rds of the way through the trip, I started to experience the "Sticky Key" problem, and although it made me nervous, it stayed at an acceptable level of intensity without getting worse. But since I got home in August, it has been steadily recurring and getting more problematic. I finally decided to tackle it this week. \

The instructions were clear and awesome, and everything worked as the directions said. It took me about 2 hours, with most of the time spent trying to figure out how to get the black ring in place, with the key inserted through it, so the entire lock assembly would fall together. I spent about an hour on that, and it finally just all slipped together, and I drove the car to be sure it was functional. After reassembly, everything worked perfectly. I removed the offending latch pin and the spring flew off somewhere. I didn't bother to put the cover back over the opening, as the opening is covered by the 10 mm retaining clamp, which fits directly over the opening. Total disassembly time was about 45 minutes, with the switch assembly in my hand on my workbench in front of the garage. To reinstall it took only about 10 minutes, with the electrical plug, the interlock cable, and the sensor switch only taking about 3 minutes. Next time I think it will only take me about 15 minutes to have it back out again.

While in there, I noticed a lot of missing panel fasteners inside the dash, so my assumption is the owner had the dealer, at some time in the past, change out the ignition switch, probably under warranty. They just put a new switch in, and that was it. It still had the cover in place, and the pin assembly and spring, which I removed. I had already decided NOT to replace the unit, as being too expensive, and would eventually have the same problem again. Now it is fixed for good. I was cheered by the fact that I did not damage anything, it all went together fine, and I did not have to buy a new switch because of damage. (I was prepared to, but was hoping not to have to replace the switch, so I worked very carefully.

That single item has been the ONLY mechanical problem I have had with the car, which is now over 18 years old. I am VERY IMPRESSED! The car is magnificent in every way, solid as a rock, totally quiet with no rattles of any kind, the air conditioner has no problem keeping up with our Arizona temps, in fact I often turn it down in the evenings, even though it is still in the 90's here, and with very high humidity, as our monsoon season has not yet ended.

When I was at one of the local theaters, someone wrote "gay vibes" on one of the side windows in paint crayon, which I laughed about and wiped off. (I get stopped by a chick at LEAST once a week with questions about what kind of car, and women telling me it is the coolest car they have seen, so I am not worried about any gay vibes. I wouldn't care anyway.) Even when I am stopped at a light, I get pedestrians who give me a thumbs up when they see the car. During my long trip, there were exactly 5 people who knew what it was and came up to me to talk about it. Only one of them was a previous Crossfire owner, and he said he missed it and never should have sold his. I am really kind of surprised that this car is not better known in the U.S. I also get stopped in parking lots a lot, when I am shopping for groceries.

I really like working on it, too. I worked on Learjets for 32 years, and it resembles them in it's engineering. Also in the tight spaces you have to work on, as access is sometimes a pain. But even when you work on it, you have faith that the engineering is so good, it is like an aircraft, and you know it will work perfectly when you put it back together. Which it has so far. My only gripe is there is no dipstick for the transmission. I assume some Frenchman working for Mercedes suggested that and it was approved for production when the engineering team were all high on crack..
I did have the ESD message on first startup after the switch work, but running the steering wheel full left and then full right turned it right off again. I will look at my time settings and other stuff that might have dropped off due to the battery disconnection process when I drive it tonight. (I did the stereo mod for the speakers that was mentioned here on another forum post, and also installed an Alpine stereo. The Alpine was a big disappointment, the FIRST TIME I have ever not liked an Alpine Stereo. It has so many functions on each button, and the roads here in Tucson, and when I was in Wisconsin, were so rough that it was virtually impossible to use the features on the stereo. I mostly just used the CD function, and ignored all the others. I had put in Sirius XM, but again, the many buttons with multiple functions made it nearly impossible to listen to satellite radio, as by the time you hit the right sequence of buttons to bring up satellite radio the stereo had switched to some other mode such as Bluetooth or Aux or Pandora, none of which I use, and those prevented me from listening to Sirius during my trip.) I canceled my subscription to that when I got home I think I got Sirius Radio on for about 1 minute total over 2 months, so it was just unusable.

Anyway, I wanted to heartily thank EVERYONE who contributed to building this thread, and for the useful information it contains! It is an absolutely awesome reference, and the level of detail, instructions, and pics is wonderful! Thank you ALL!

 

Now, open the fuse panel on the left side of the dash that you can access with the driver's door open and on the inside of that plastic fuse cover write "Sticky Key" which seems to be where many make a note of having made this mod. so any future owner will know it has already been performed (if that owner ever has a problem and cares to research such things). The Sticky Key fix is a necessity on these cars because it is not a matter of "if" but "when". A dealer or many repair shops will charge a fortune and replace the ignition with a new one that has the same problem and will fail just the same in time.

 

Excellent idea! I will do that tomorrow morning, when I go back to wrassling with my glove compartment latch!

 

Thanks BushRoadster, the sticky ignition fix is definitely on target going right to the source of the problem never to occur again. I have had my Crossfire for over a year and loving this rather unique and fun car. BTW, I tried the same Alpine radio and not care for it either and found a more convenient one to use with classic looks.
Heloguy

 

PS: the link is: https://www.classiccarstereos.com/di...ntent=shopping

 

Not sure i have the Sticky Key issue, but my guess is 'I do'..
Was repositioning the car i the garage and ended up turning the car off with the wheels turned quite a bit.
Now the key can't be removed, and the car is not starting.
the key does turn.
tried cranking the wheel back and forth a few times (not 10 times yet as mentioned by someone else) and no luck unlocking the system for key removal.
just bought the car yesterday and i'm ready to sell it. I'm not a handy guy so this repair is daunting to me.
anyone interested in a 2006 Limited Roadster with 20,000 miles? Definitely garage kept as it's like brand new
(

 

When I thought of buying my Crossfire I read up in the crossfire forum what things needed to be addressed right up front and did them or had them done within a few weeks. Most could be done and were done by me a non mechanic. No issues in years less my battery going dead and I am researching that.

 

Have you disconnected, removed your alarm siren?

 

Sometimes to unlock the steering you have to turn it real hard in the direction it is turned while turning the key carefully. Where are you located?

 

Na

 

I'm in Charlotte, NC

 

eelya1, I just spent 35 minutes composing a response for you. It was magnificent. You should have seen it! Unfortunately, you won't, because when I went to add a picture of my 2005 Limited Roadster daily driver with over 230,000 miles on the odometer, I lost the message! So, I ended up with an analogy well suited to Crossfire ownership. It's not always easy, and it's getting harder. You're going to have some problems. But, you may find that the pleasure it brings is worth the occasional suffering. Also, there are many passionate Crossfire owners on this forum that love nothing more than helping other Crossfire owners on this forum. If this isn't for you, post some images on this site. I'm confident it will find a good home. If you love that car as much as most of us do, we'll help you with the problems your going to encounter.
I realize this doesn't help with your steering lock issue. I (mis?)understand this to be a wear issue, and with such low miles, this may not be your problem, but based on the reasonable cost for the lock mechanism and the little time it takes to replace it, I'd recommend following the instructions in this post. -David

 

Here it is. Isn't it beautiful?!