Ignition Switch Removal?

[LittleHoov]

Ok I first posted asking if anyone else knew how to do this, but I got impatient and figured it out myself. The next post is a write up on how to do it.

[LittleHoov]

Ok so I got my ignition switch out, and I decided to share what I learned in removing it. I was just taking it out to clean and inspect it. I was not replacing it with a new one.

Before you do anything, you will need to disconnect the negative cable from the battery, its also good practice to pull the Airbag fuse from the fusebox, since you will be working around areas where the airbag connectors are later on. It only takes a few seconds to do, and better than taking an airbag in the face. The possibilities of that happening are slim, but its better to be safe about it.



Phase 1: Removal of radio and Climate Controls

1. Lift center console lid and remove the two 7mm bolts just behind the cupholder.
2. Pull up on trim piece, a good location to grab is to push in the cupholder and use it as sort of a handle, the entire piece around the shifter all the way down to underneath the climate controls should come loose. Once the piece is free, disconnect the plug for the traction control button if applicable, you will also have to at least push in the button on the shifter knob to get the piece out, you may also want to shift out of park (be careful) to get that piece out.

3. Remove the trim piece that goes around the radio and climate controls by simply popping it off, its best to start at the bottom, where you just exposed it by removing the piece in step 2. Once its popped off, make sure all of the little clips (4 total) stayed with the piece, sometimes they get stuck in the dash and have to be removed.

4. Remove the 3 Phillips head screws holding in the radio, pull radio out and disconnect wiring harness from the back, and antenna plug from the back. Set the radio aside. Then remove the 2 Phillips head screws from the Climate control unit. Mine is digital so standard controls may vary slightly. After you have removed the screws, pull the unit out and disconnect the wiring from the back by grasping the connector on the tabs and pulling, you may have to fight it a little.

Phase 2: Removing the Instrument Cluster

1. The large plastic piece that starts under the steering wheel and goes all the way down to the floor needs to come loose, not off necessarily, but loose. The easiest way to do this is to grab it on the left side, just underneath the vent on the farthest left. Around the areas of the dimmer switch. It should pop straight off. Then go over to the other side and pop it off at the top. It does not need to come off, the top portion just needs to be loosened enough so that you can see the bottom portion of the black plastic trim that surrounds the gauges.

2. Once you can see the bottom of that trim, stop, and take the two screws out of the black plastic around the gauges, once they are out, you should be able to grab that piece down at the bottom and pop it off. Be careful as there is wiring that goes to the "Trip Odo" and "Trip Reset" buttons that will need to be disconnected. Dont forget that you have tilt steering, and there are times when you may need to move the wheel around a little to get things in and out.

3. Remove the 4 phillips head screws from around the instrument cluster, guide it out slowly, its a tight fit and youll have to move it around just so, but once it comes free, remove the one large connector from the back.

4. Go ahead and remove the Hazard and Cruise switches from the dash, by grasping the big tabs behind them (cant miss em) and pulling it straight out, just set them in the area where the instrument cluster was, youll want that extra room later on I promise. Hang on kids, were gettin to the fun part now.

Phase 3: Ignition Switch removal.

1. Go ahead and gently pry off the black plastic ring around the keyhole, a flathead screwdriver works great, but pry against the metal of the keyhole, not against the dash, or you can damage it.

2. Taking your ignition key off your keyring works best, as it takes up less space, and doesnt flop around and such. But anyway, go ahead and insert your ignition key into the ignition and turn the key to the "ACC" position, which would be the first click.

3. Locate the Parl/Lock cable running into the back of the ignition switch, its a thick black cable, that has limited movement too it, but it does move if you get mean with it. This part is tricky, as for me it was done largely by feel. But on the underside of where that cable runs into the switch, there should be a little tab that you can push in with your finger and the cable should come free with some persuasion. Thats in a perfect world, anyway. Important: Make sure the key is in the ACC position, the cable will not come out unless it is, and youll be engaged in a long battle you cant win.

4. Getting the cable out in step 3 will help, but its not absolutely necessary it this point. It is easier to remove the cable while the ignition switch is still bolted in place, but again, it can be done later if you cant seem to get it in step 3. With that said, go ahead and take loose the two remaining bolts holding the switch in, there are a total of 3, but you took one loose when you removed the radio. They are the only 2 bolts left in the general area, one goes in from the side and one goes straight in. They are both Phillips head.

5. You may have noticed, that even with the park/lock cable removed, and with all the bolts out, this bugger doesnt seem in any hurry to come out. You would be correct. There are 2 connectors with thick wiring that go into the bottom of the switch that are keeping it from moving very far. If you havent already take the key back out of the ignition, even if you still havent removed that cable, you can do it later. Pull on the back of the switch and push on the keyhole with your thumb to get it motivated to move backwards a little bit. This is where it gets sketchy, but those two connectors on the bottom are held in by a tab, just one, on the side closest to you, if you can move that switch around just so, you can get something in there and push the connectors out. I was able to use a small screwdriver stuck through the opening for the key in the dash. Your methods may vary, just use a mix of caution and anger so as not to damage any wiring. They WILL come off, but sometimes theyre stubborn.

6. Hopefully by now, with the park/lock cable removed, and both those connectors out of the bottom, this thing should be freed up. Youll probably have to use both hands to wriggle it out of there, dont forget you can reach around through the opening where the radio was (thats why we took it out). There are only two connections left now. One is a light and should simply pop out as you grab it and pull. The other connection is a cute little 3 wire job that requires removing the lock cylinder to get it out. Luckily the wiring is long so you can get the switch out where you can work with it.

7. To remove the lock cylinder, put the key back in, turn it to the ON position, or second click, and then locate the little metallic tab on the switch. I honestly cant remember where it is, but its the only tab on there. You push that tab in while pulling on the key and it should slide right out.

8. The switch should be fully free now, as that last connector essentially falls out without the lock cylinder in place, but take notice of how it works so you can put it back together when the time comes.

You should be pretty well done now, installation is the reverse of removal. Unless you are replacing the lock cylinder, I dont think any special procedures need to be done. I cleaned mine up and put it back in and it started fine on the first try. I dont see any reason why a new switch with the old cylinder should be any different. Congratulations, you just removed your ignition switch.

[aghopkins]

Thanks for the write-up. I am going to have to replace mine before too long and this is exactly what I have been looking for.

[Hoppy2]

Littlehoov,

You said in a couple other posts that you took the switch apart and cleaned it. Can you enlighten me how it comes apart and what you did to clean it? During reassembly, did you use dielectric grease to lubricate it after?

Not sure if it is giving me any problems, but others have had the SVS light, Trac Off light and ABS lights come on, in what I think is probably a bad wheel sensor. I am getting those lights minus the ABS light and am wondering if it is my ignition switch as well.

Any thoughts?

[LittleHoov]

Im sorry, I shouldve been more specific. All I did was clean the contacts that are on the outside, where the two plugs come into the bottom, and any other external wiring plugins. I also removed the lock cylinder, and cleaned that area out.

All I used was electronics cleaner, a pressurized spray, safe for electronics, not the "canned air" this is actually a liquid.

I did not put dielectric grease on any contacts, there were a few that looked a little burnt, and some that had some gunk on them. My simple cleaning and removal/reinstallation of wiring was enough to fix my problems. Others might not be so lucky.

Supposedly, ignition switch faults can be diagnosed with a Tech II, but that of course costs money. You could also replace the switch with a new one, also costing money.

You might consider getting the car scanned to retrieve those codes (a standard code reader will not do it) and while theyre at it, have them look for a ignition switch problem. That way it all gets done at once. That is unusual though that you have the SVS and Trac Off, but no ABS light.

[Hoppy2]

It only comes on once in a while. Seems to be if i spin the tires a little bit from a stand still while turning onto a road is when the two lights come on.

I will have to check my ABS light to see if it comes on when starting. I am not sure, but it may be burnt out. If i shift the car into neutral when these lights come on and shut the engine off and restart it the lights go off and stay off unless I slightly spin the tires again.

Not a real pain, but an annoyance.

[fhofstra]

When I got the ignition switch out yesterday, I too wondered about how to clean it. I removed the back of the switch, revealing two sets of contacts. Each set is attached to one of the blade terminals of the switch. One set has 2 pairs of contacts; the other has 3 pairs. I didn't have a relay contact burnishing tool, like in the old days, so broke the rules and used the finest grit paper I had (yes, I know you shouldn't) on the contacts I could remove; then rubbed them on steel and blew all the grit off as well as I could. A couple of the contacts were remarkably bad (black/burned), so I think there was a net gain on what I did. Not sure if there are any other similar make/break contacts in the switch body. All the blade terminals in the connectors looked clean, but I scrubbed them with a stainless-steel brush as best I could. So far, so good, with the car for two days. Dielectric grease sounds like a good idea. Next time I will plan to have some.

[Hoppy2]

fhofstra,

You actually took the switch apart eh? Do you have any pictures? Simply for the reason that maybe many of us may take the switch apart to clean the contacts and so on.

Do you know what circuit the badly burnt contacts are for? I wonder if adding a relay into the circuit after the current draw is determined to size a proper relay. This way you can mount the relay under the dashboard and if there is any problem in the future, just replace the relay rather than the entire switch.

[fhofstra]

Hoppy2 -
Sorry, was out of town. Yes, I took the back cover off...the plastic parts snap together, so they can be carefully pried apart with appropriate small screwdrivers. Fortunately, none of the tabs broke on disassembly, so the rear cover snapped back together all right on reassembly. I did not take any pictures; I'm still looking at those newfangled digital cameras.
When the rear cover is removed, take a good look at what is revealed, before moving anything. After memorizing what you see, note that the top two blade terminals, which extend back, can be slid backwards out of the connector housing. The contact sets are mounted permanently on those blade terminals, each with a removable spring assembly "hung" loosely on top of them, to provide tension on the contacts. It isn't difficult if you go slow. Don't bend anything. I didn't document which of the contact pairs were the worst, or try to figure or ohm out to which terminals they went. The prints (pgs 8-281 and 8-282) show a total of 4 switches. The circuits they each power have from 10 to 55 amps worth of fuses. Those switches could still be internal to the ignition switch, I suppose, but I think they are the make/break contacts we are discussing. Anyway, I cleaned them. The "removable half" of each set of contacts is easier to clean, since you can get at them. The "fixed half" of each set are tougher; you have to scrape them with a small screwdriver blade, tiny piece of garnet paper, or something similar, then get the loosened material out of there. It's a bit crude, but with burned or pitted contacts, the result should be at least better than it was. Go slow; they will clean up nicely. A Q-tip with alcohol will help pick up tiny bits of abrasive, etc. off the cleaned contacts. Don't leave any cotton (but you knew that).
When you slide each blade terminal back into the connector housing, make sure it and its contacts are seated properly. You can tell this by seeing the removable contacts positioned exactly over their corresponding fixed contacts (which never moved). I had to fiddle just a bit to make this happen. Make sure the tension springs are hung straight. Yes, a picture would have been handy here. And this is why you took that good look at the beginning, before moving anything.
As for rewiring with a relay or relays, it's your call on whether that would be worth it. Sounds like a fair amount of work to get relay(s) wired up. You would have to duplicate what the ig. switch does in every position, I suppose. Now that I've had the switch out once, it won't be so bad a job next time around (if there is a next time). If my ig. switch was indeed the problem, it would mean the switch lasted about 7 years before it started malfunctioning. I think I'd rather clean these contacts, or just replace the switch next time.
Someone mentioned dielectric grease. That might be a good idea, and get you some extra years of service out of the switch. I used to work in an automotive switch plant, and some of the switches we built utilized various greases, including conductive grease. But I don't know for sure in this particular case, whether it would help. Sounds logical, though.

[Hoppy2]

fhofstra,

Thanks for the explanation. Great write up on what to watch out for. I will give you a bit of advice. A digital camera comes in VERY VERY handy for doing procedures as such. I have taken numerous mechanical and electrical things apart and in one instance, restoring an antique tube radio, I was extremely glad I took many pictures before replacing any dried out capacitors in the circuit. One mistake I made was I hooked up a capacitor to a wrong terminal. If I didn't have the pictures I am sure I wouldn't have that radio working today.

Next time I get to a wrecking yard I will find an in-dash switch to take home and get ready for my intrigue if it ever goes. Great learning experience too. When I get one and dissassemble it I will take pics and see if I can post a how-to thread on this procedure. Perhaps you can review it with me so we cover everything.

Any idea if a switch from an Impala or Grand AM will work in the Intrigue? The reason I ask is the last time I went to a wrecking yard I couldn't find any Intrigues, and my mother's Grand Am has the similar in-dash ignition switch.

[LittleHoov]

I believe that the Grand Am and Impala switch will work, they usually show up in parts searches on car-parts.com if you search for one for an Intrigue, so I assume someone has done the research. I would almost guarantee the Impala one will work, because thats the same platform, but I cant say 100% for the GA. I hate GMPD's new catalog, because you cant cross reference anymore, this would be a perfect opportunity for that.

EDIT: RockAuto shows the same part #s for an Ignition Starter Switch for a 2000 Intrigue and Grand Am, so one can assume they're the same.

[Hoppy2]

Thanks I will keep my eyes open for one

[fhofstra]

All -
Just to report back and (maybe) close the loop, it has now been 14 days (daily driving) since I removed, cleaned the internal contacts, and reinstalled my 2000 Intrigue's ignition switch. Since then, the car has not stalled or stumbled a single time. Since it was doing so nearly every day before servicing the switch, I think chances are very good that the switch was the problem.
There have been a fair number of posts (including my own from a year ago), that reported erratic and puzzling engine stumbling or dying both at idle and at speed. At this point, for my car, it appears to indeed have been the switch. Thanks to the members for their posts and advice.

[LittleHoov]

Well I think thats great to hear, nothing like being able to fix a problem for free, or at least costing you nothing more than a little time and elbow grease. Glad to see you got things working right again.

Maybe this will encourage some more members to take the plunge into the dash.

[Hoppy2]

Take the plunge!

I will do it when I begin having problems! Thanks though for the heads up and the how to's.