1996 Ford Ranger 3.0 Ignition Problems

Discussion in '1993 - 1997 Ford Ranger' started by nazranger, Nov 14, 2019.

  1. nazranger

    nazranger New Member

    Truck: 1996 Ford Ranger 3.0 V6 2WD Automatic

    Hello all. I've searched high and low with no luck so far on answers to my questions.

    Sometime last night, my girl was driving to the store and at one point, the steering wheel seemed to have difficulty turning. Eventually it "fixed itself" and she continued driving. Minutes later when she attempted to turn off the truck, the ignition would not turn off. It would simply turn to the off position without the engine shutting down. I had to pull the fuel relay to shut the truck off.

    Thinking it was the ignition cylinder, I replaced that today. Still the same problem. Car will start but not turn off. Also replaced the ignition switch. Still no luck.

    I found out that it's the "ignition actuator rod" that's broken. I pulled the panels under the steering column and can clearly see that the actuator moves to the "on" position when the key is set to run, but will not return to the off position. I'm assuming a part of the plastic on the rod has broken, come loose, bent, etc. etc.

    I'm by no means mechanically inclined, so I assumed that I could "bypass" all of this trouble and simply use the ignition switch itself to start and shut off the truck (move the pin to on or off). Mistake on my part. Now the anti-theft system has been triggered and anytime I attempt to connect the battery to start the car, the horn goes off.

    My question is:

    Is there any way to bypass or "fix" the anti theft system being triggered? Is there a timeframe that I need to wait so that the theft system resets, after I've fiddled with the ignition switch? I know the actual broken part (actuator) needs to be fixed but right now, that is simply not feasible with timeframe, availability of part, and our need to drive this truck daily.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is our daily driver and we need it running ASAP. Please let me know if you need clarification on anything mentioned or have questions.

    SIDE NOTE: Today when I couldn't shut the truck off to get gas, I pulled the fuel relay, gassed up the truck, then couldn't start it after replacing the fuel relay. I was told by an AutoZone guy that the theft system had triggered, and I had to let it sit 15-20 mins for the system to reset. This worked and I was able to start and drive the truck home.
     

Share This Page