Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Under the bottom half of the plastic housing behind the steering wheel, toward the right side, is a black pin that clears the pin inside that locks the lock mech from turning.. It is a bear to remove the housing, without the steering wheel being removed (Yes, that is part of the procedure to get at this area)..but I managed to remove the top and bottom of this housing...One has to remove the key switch first to clear the plastic housing.. and in order to do that, one has to turn the key to the "On" position, which is not possible with the condition you have right now..
My recommendation to you is to cut the plastic apart so you can remove the top half of the housing... You can find another housing at a junk yard later to replace it.. I glued that slide upwards so the solenoid pin will always be out...and placed a block of hard foam below the in that you push as a back up method..and then put it all back together.. Worked fine until it got creamed!..
They do not make a printed manual for the Aztec, so had to go online.Online manual was one bought for $20 at AutoZone.. ALLDATA diy.com, I believe.. Was worthless for any schematics on electricals.. I did get a decent diagram of the pin and all from it.... If I can locate the diagram again, I can send via email.. My email address is dak507@plateautel.net
Your problem is some different as you can turn your steering wheel...it should be locked if key is locked... I don't know exactly what you have, but willing to help, if I can...duane
Ignition Lock Cylinder Control Actuator
If the vehicle is equipped with a floor mounted console gear shift, it has a ignition lock cylinder control actuator system in the steering column. The ignition lock cylinder control actuator's purpose is to prevent the ignition key from being turned to the OFF position when the transmission is in gear and the vehicle may still be moving. The column ignition lock system consists of a ignition lock cylinder control actuator , and a park position switch that is located in the A/T shift lock control switch. The ignition lock cylinder control actuator contains a pin that is spring loaded out to mechanically prevent the ignition key cylinder from being turned to the lock position when the vehicle transmission is not in the Park position. If vehicle power is lost, and/or the transmission is not in the Park position the operator will not be able to turn the ignition key to the lock position and will not be able to remove the ignition key from the column.
That's still a lot cheaper than monthly car payments out as far as the eye can see.
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
I think the problem is the BTSI. When I try to find one I find something called the Actuator. Is this the part that I need?
I only have 78K miles on this car but things seem to be going wrong left and right now. I don't know if I should keep it or trade it in. Is this part pretty straight forward to replace or not so much?
Mike
So I had to disable the parking pawl so the key could be removed everytime and allow the battery to not go dead..
I think the group will be most appreciative of your work and your description of what you found. THANKS!
Thx, Steve
How did you replace the wiring. Did you do it or have the dealer do it? How difficult was it. 1 year later I still have the problem but it is very intermittent. I unwrapped part of the wire to look for a crack but found nothing.
Thanks
Mike
There is a wire in the ignition harness somewhere that is set wrong/crimped. When the car would get hot, it would create a short. Hence, rocking it dislodged the wire long enough to start it.
NO problems at ALL now!
For the disco lights on dash it may potentially be an issue with BCM ( Body Control Module). You could try a sort of reset for that by removing fuse #28 (I think hats the one) from underhood fuse box for about 30 seconds, then reseting it. Also possible if you have a sunroof, it may be leaking and causing water to get down to electrical stuff in dash causing troubles ( I have experianced that one and drying stuff out corrected problem).
First (because you didn't mention it), I believe there is an override that will allow you to get it out of park. I think in the front cupholder there is a little plastic piece that can be removed and small screwdriver or pen can be inserted to push a switch or something and allow shift lever to be moved.
As to the problem itself there is a little gizmo called the Brake Transaxle Shift Interlock that works in conjuntion with thr brake pedal, shifter, and some sort of thing in column near the ignition. Because you are hearing a noise in the column I would bet its that little electronic thing that is the problem. Someone here at this forum circumvented this safety item by forcing this thing to be on all the time, but replacement might be a better thing to do. Good luck
To get at the power window mechanism, I need to remove the door panel. There are 3 torx screws and a few clips, which I was able to remove. However when I try to remove the front door panel, it gets caught on the front door handle. There must be something I'm missing.
I would appreciate some advice.
Yesterday I drove around town before doing a highway trip and it got hot several times (seemingly upon acceleration again), but never overheated. Drove around all day (80+ miles) on and off highway and never overheated.
The heater does not blow hot when the car is overheating, but will once it cools off. Car overheats just as quickly regardless of what position the fan or heater is in. Car will not overheat if left idling in driveway before getting on the highway, still waits until highway speeds are attained.
Coolant level is good, and fluid is clean.
Any ideas?
Sorry to hear about your father.
My 2003 Aztek has a problem that is very similar to what you have described. Basically, if the front passenger side door latch is open (or maybe a similar problem that mimics the passenger side door latch being open), then virtually all electricals in the car appear to go into a lock-down mode ... so the car won't start, and the power door locks and virtually anything else electrical stops working. In this case, if you do not have manual door locks or somehow forget about them in the excitement, then the only way out appears to break the windows.
What I have described is an electrical/control problem with the Aztek ... and I believe that it can be fixed by replacing the main control board (BCM or Body Control Module).
Regards,
Bubba_Man