froggyć88

Lets get this out of the way- Im a chic... I dont know the car vocab like u guys but I will try my best so you understand. Ive only had this car for 2 months. At the beginning of this mess I thought it was the fuel pump or filter. I will get to the point, bypass my in between thoughts, and here's where im at now. Please help and feel free to correct me if im wrong.
Ignition/switch going out slowly, as it slips it reacts w fuel pump (either safety or electrical reasons) causing problems when cranking, gages to jump, and die when driving.
It finally goes out... I used hair bows to hold key/ignition in place to get home (150 miles!), but starter wasn't running whole time... 'over rode' safety mechanism and pretty much freaked....
- Radiator fan wasn't running, car ran hot, plug popped out.
- Totally shut off heat/AC unit, maybe for safety
- Switch off track or like it's not in time... Don't know when to send power to radio & lighter.
- Delay with windows... Can't explain, but seems electrical.

All ends with switch problems, either safety or electrical. So I could replace my switch.... Or could it be in my steering column??????? And does all the above work the way I think it does? I had 100-150 miles to think about all of it.

Ryan Lwin

I don't understand what you are saying. Are you saying that the key switch came off and you can't turn the car on anymore? And there are shorts in your electrical system in the car?

froggyć88

Ryan-- I thought if i told the whole story i would bore u guys so i got right to the point, guess i thought wrong. Give me another shot. No, my switch is still there, and it cranks and runs great as long as i hold the switch/key in place. As far as shorts in electrical system go- im not 100% sure, it just seems like it has to be the only thing that's left bc how else can the switch effect the other things i mentioned? Other than safety reasons?
Sorry if i repeat anything but this may make more since.
After having the car for abt 1 month it started to act as if there were a problem with the fuel pump/filter. Sometimes it took 3-4 attempts to crank, RPM & speed hands would jump few times, and went dead twice while driving. All of a sudden after a month of doing that, it just died as i was turning into a road. Thought it was fuel pump again, went to crank it back up and realized when I let go of switch it cut off. I tried moving steering wheel and column adjusting... Nothing made a difference.
My switch has 4 'markings'.. 0-where key goes in, 1,11,and 111. At the last notch (111) it kinda springs a tad past it to crank then pops back (to the 111 mark), well when this went out and it cranks and pops back to the position it always has, it turns off.... So nothing physically broke as I can see. It just seems that it tells it to crank then looses connection when it springs back. So to get home I had to tie it up using hair bows, which apparently wasn't good for it at all. When the car is running the switch should sit at the 111 marking but I had to tie it that bit past it, so that it wouldn't pop back and would stay crunk.
Then all the other problems came. Car never ran hot or had any other problems before switch acted up. When my car ran hot I thought maybe I shoulda checked it, then when putting water in it seen that it just dripped out the bottom and thought I busted my radiator. So I just kept it cooled and stopped to fill it up.
When I got home my dad checks it out and first thing sees that the radiator plug is popped out a little. So that explains why it keeps running hot. But why did it do it to begin with? I've done some research to get me further and where I am now. Switches like mine have 3 or 4 separate parts, it has to be in time with the car, if it's bad then lots of things could go.
Thats where the rest comes in...
Caused radiator fan to stop, radio and lighter problems, heat/AC power loss, delay in window button....
Some ppl on here say before replacing switch, should replace column, and that kinda makes since but im not sure. I need more answers other than mine.

Nickeg9Ej1

ignition switch is more then likely bad, you could take it apart and clean it real good 9 times out of 10 that will fix it for a while. there's a guy on ebay that sells replacements for like 30 dollars.

Ryan Lwin

Ok. I kind of understand. I think. So, you have to hold the key at crank position pass ON position yes? When you do that, is your starter constantly running? Can you hear a grinding noise from starter? Or do you just keep the key in place before starter turns?

If the starter is not constantly running, then you need a new key switch. You can check the key but since you said it's working when you hold it, it's not the wires. The key switch is definitely not good anymore.

Jumping gauges and car losing electrical power during drive is because your car is not grounded properly. Possibly at the under-dash fuse box. Check around the fuse box to see if the ground cables (usually black wires) are grounded to body. Also check the wires in engine compartment if they are all wrapped up with insulating materials. If not, wrap them with electrical tapes. Check under the dash. There are a bunch of wires. See if anything is loose or hanging around or cuts or burns. Also check each fuse with DMM.

About the radiator. I think it's just old and slipping. Get a new drain plug or better one and put it back in. Also, everytime you lose coolant in the radiator, make sure to burp it so that you don't get bubbles in system which causes overheating also.

You definitely need a new key switch. But I don't know about key switches since it involves you replacing your key and your doors won't match your ignition..... That's tough.

froggyć88

Yes, i have to hold the key at crank position pass ON position. I can hear the starter but in that little bit of space past the last notch (ON position) I can still manage to barely nudge the key so that the starter turns off. So, no its not constantly running and hear no sound from it, only for few seconds to crank it.

About my car not being grounded, I will check all the wires and fuses but is there any way that this cant come from the switch problem also? It just makes since after seeing the radio, heater/ AC, and lighter all act up at once caused from the switch..

Radiator could be old and why it's slipping but it was perfectly fine till the switch went out, then had problems.
I've got a book on the car, read a little about it there as well. It mentioned switch had to be in time or it would pretty much not sync together right.

HondaPartsHero

http://www.ebay.com/itm/92-93-94-95-...6097cd&vxp=mtr

http://techauto.awardspace.com/ignitionswitch.html

Yoitshector

Replace ignition switch

Ryan Lwin

Ok then. Just replace the switch. There's a link from ebay in above post about new switch. Just replace that since your current switch is not good anymore. It's simply plug and play.

Well, if I have to guess the cause of the problem from the beginning, it could've been the switch that shorted out some of the wires. The switch has really thick wires that are 12 V potential and 30 to 50 A current flowing in them. In electricity, this high current can cause a lot of damages when it passes through directly (or shorted) which describe your other problems such as power surges at the beginning and power getting cut off while operating. That's why, you should test for all the fuses and wires. (Car being grounded means, all black wires should be attached to the body of the car for the electrical current to flow in the loop of the entire circuit. Otherwise, it will have no place to go which causes spikes or surges that you are experiencing.)

Replace the drain plug then.

froggyć88

Thanks for all yall's help guys. This is confusing but I have learned alot about cars they this caos. I just wanted to make sure there's no way it wasn't in the steering column before I went and replaced the switch. So a new switch it is. Wish me luck.