White95CivicSi

Here's my problem. Everytime I turn the key to start the car, it dies. There have been a couple of instances where I'm driving on the freeway and the car dies, as if I removed the key while driving. I did a search here and the topics I found led me to believe it was the ignition switch that went bad. I cleaned the contacts, problem persists. I got another switch, the problem still persists. I've come to the conclusion that it's the ignition cylinder (I've also heard it referred to as "ignition tumbler"). What it seems like is that some sort of spring inside the ignition cylinder is not holding the key in place. I got my Civic in 97 (secondhand car) and I noticed that whenever i'd start my car the key would never turn as smoothly as it did in other Civics. There were times where i'd start the car, and the radio and fan won't work, or sometimes the fan alone didn't work. Turning the key slightly would alleviate this problem.

Here's some questions. Is there anyway to fix the inside of the cylinder or will I have to get a new one? My friend still has his wrecked Civic, and we tried to take out his ignition cylinder, only to find that it was TIG welded. Are all ignition cylinders TIG welded to the column? I was unable to check to see if mine is TIG welded or not.

Well hope someone can help. Thanks in advance.



Modified by White95CivicSi at 11:41 AM 4/20/2004