99 Town and Country Ignition problem

[ctcreekfisher]

Over the last week the ingition has been locking up and not allowing the key to turn AT ALL. This has happened about five times and I have successfully "shaken" it to work, unfortunately now it will not turn at all. I have contacted the Dealership and all they can tell me is to bring it in... I prefer to fix it myself if I had some idea what to look for. I am fairly competent and have worked on everything myself in the past but do not know if there is some sort of safety switch that I may need to look for. On the other hand I may just need to replace the key / tumbler combination. Any help is appreciated.

[tazman]

Unfortunately you will have to replace the tumbler and ignition casing. The key-way wears out over time until it gets to the point where it no longer turns like in your case. Be careful when you remove the old tumbler as there is a plastic clip on the wire harness that breaks very easily. If it breaks you may have to replace the whole ignition harness on the steering column. Bring your original key, the new tumbler and any keys that come with it to the dealership. They can change the new tumbler to match your original key for about $20.00 Canadian. I've had to do the same thing with my Mother's 2000 minivan. She has almost 90,000km on her van already. Let me know if you need any other help.