My 91 beater EF sedan left me stranded by the side of the road.

A few weeks ago, the blower motor stopped working. Conveniently, rainy season started and I have to defog my windsheild with an old shirt.

Then last Thursday, the car left me stranded 40 miles away from home. I smelled burning plastic and I pulled over and shut her off. A little bit of smoke was coiming out of the steering column. When I tried restarting it, it would turn over but shut down the moment I stopped turning the key. I then saw smoke coming out from behind the steering wheel.

I finally got a chance to pull it apart today and this is what I saw...








Third pic is a piece of solder. I found it when I was removing the plastic covers. So I tried moving the wire around to make sure it wasn't touching anything and I tried starting it and the same thing would happen.

WTF do I replace? I need to get my car running asap.

 

b cruz, your going to need to replace the electrical portion of your ignition switch.

 

thanks for the reply. is that something I can purchase at Kragen/Autozone? Or is it something I should get at the stealership?

Thanks in advance!

-B

 

im not sure if the auto parts store would carry that, dealership is your best bet and if its a big enough one im sure they will stock that part

 

the dealership is the only place i have found that has that ignition switch. autozone, advanced auto, napa, and carquest in my area all do not carry it. Its about $70 from the dealer. If the electrical problem is farther upstream though, you might risk burning up the new one, so you might investigate how that switch got shorted.. it might have shorted out on itself though, which explains the giant chunk of solder you found.

 

So here is the culprit.





Thanks to you guys that helped via PM's!

Another EF back on the road.

 

late..but they sell those in autozone i believe its cheaper