Yes a slide hammer will jerk enough of the switch out to get the thing
apart. I have done that on parts cars that I did not care about. If you care
about your car, that should be the last resort.
Get a bottle of powdered
graphite. That is the lock smith's first tool. Squirt it into the key slot
while you hold the flapper open. Put more on the key and put the key in the
lock. Work it in and out. Put more graphite every where.
Wiggle the
steering wheel and try to get the key to turn. There is a square latch on the
inside of the ignition switch that locks into a groove in the steering
column. It is about the size of the latch on a door in your house.
If
none of that does anything, you need to remove the plastic steering column
surround. There is a round headed bolt pointing forward toward the dash.
That is the bolt that holds the ignition switch in the column. I have unwound
the bolt by using a sharp cold punch and hammer. Then tap off center on the
head of the bolt to try and turn it anticlockwise (remember that you are
looking at the back of the bolt, so you turn it clock wise when sitting in the
driver's seat).
It is probably easier to unscrew the bolt on the spider by
putting your feet and legs over the back of the seat and your head under the
steering wheel so you can see what you are doing when unscrewing the bolt.
Plus looking at the head of the bolt helps to make sure you are turning it the
right anti clock wise direction.
If that does not work, get a dremel tool
or an air cut off disk and cut a screwdriver slot in the round head of the
bolt. Then unscrew it.
I do not recall needing the key to turn to remove
the switch once the bolt is out. If so, then your slide hammer is going to do
a lot less damage once the lock bolt is removed.
But the switch should
slide right out. You will have to push on the wires and wiggle things and
pull with the key to the extent that you can without the key coming out.
I
vaguely remember that there may be a tiny secondary latch that retracts with
the key. But I think you can wiggle enough to clear that.
Once the switch
is out, take your powdered graphite after the steering lock latch on the
inside of the switch. I bet the latch movement mechanism is what is causing
the key to not turn.
I had that exact problem happen on my Milano. But
the Milano is easier as the round headed bolt is on the top of the steering
column. It is much easier to unscrew with a chisel.
New ignition
switches come with a new bolt. The head is designed to snap off when the
right amount of torque is applied leaving only the round bolt head. I toss
that bolt and put a normal 6 mm (10 mm wrench) bolt in there. It is covered
with the plastic steering column surround, so no thief will ever notice.
By the way, SCCA requires that the steering wheel lock be disabled. I cut the
latch off the inside of my ignition switch with a 3 inch cut off disk in an
air tool.
Ciao,
Russ Neely
________________________________
From:
"[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sun, April
4, 2010 8:26:53 PM
Subject: [alfa] Re:Spider ignition lock
I just got the
instructions for removing the ignition switch from my
1986 Spider. (Thank you,
Eric.) According to the procedure, the key
must be in the 'on' position to
unlock the column before the lock
assembly can be removed. The problem is that
the key will not turn in
the cylinder. Does anyone know what would happen if I
applied a big
slide hammer to the keyway and removed the cylinder by main
force? (or
is there a less brutish way to do the job?)
Dick Bevins
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