Cant Turn Engine Off

[voodoocars]

The mother in law has just called in a panic. She cant turn the engine off even if the key is removed. 1996 2.0 manual. Ignition barrel worn?

[Mike169]

A good possibility!

[voodoocars]

Normally I would wizz over and fix it but I have moved to Cambridge and she is in Coventry. I told her to take it to a garage near her house, leave it with them, walk home and use the other car. The text reply was "I'll do it tomorrow- busy today". She must be leaving it running outside Sainsburys..... Try and help..ppshh..

[Raistlin]

A quick squirt of WD40 might help free the barrel

[voodoocars]

The barrel isn't stuck apparently as the key comes out as normal. I will tell her anyway.

[pmb]

Stall it?

[voodoocars]

I said that but the ignition would be left on and a turn of the key may not start it....

[Wiz201]

So she'll be leaving it running overnight? Madness, I don't think that'll do the engine a lot of good, as well as the environment.

[Raistlin]

Remove the negative Battery lead till it can be looked at

[Wiz201]

I had a similar problem with the Jazz, except I could turn the engine on and off, but couldn't take the key out of the ignition barrel. For some reason turning it back on, moving it forwards and backwards seemed to temporarily sort out the problem, but ended up getting a new one fitted. Honda charged £500.

[gjnorthall]

Theres loads of ways but the least involved is to simply stall the engine. It's a sticking contact in the ignition switch often resulting from an accumulation of crud or the barrel being lubricated. Give it a good flush with electrical contact spray cleaner.

[voodoocars]

Here is the latest... A garage that is local to her came round to tow the car to get it repaired. They said that it could be the starter motor (!), a fuel supply problem (!) or the ignition barrel. I fear she may get shafted.....

I told her last week to spray in some wd40 but she didn't do anything so....

[Mike169]

I agree with gjnorthall.............it's not so much as the key/barrel part of the ignition switch but the contacts lower down that are sticking, ideally the electrical unit part needs replacing if that part is available, it is on many makes of cars if not it needs a good clean out if you can get access to it without dismantling and cleaning with electrical contact cleaner.

[gjnorthall]

First of all find yourself another garage - it just defies belief that a failure to switch off the engine is related in any way to the starter motor or fuel system. It just demonstrates a basic lack of knowledge of motor mechanics.

Just as an aside - don't use use lubricants such as WD40 in lock barrels - it just encourages the collection of crud. Use electrical contact cleaner to clean out the barrel and if you want to apply lubricant - put a couple of puffs of powdered graphite on the key and insert /retract a few times.

[voodoocars]

Right. I had a call off the mother in law and here is the latest.. Now, sit down as this is unbelievable...

First I asked her EXACTLY what went wrong. She went to turn off the engine but it still ran even with the key removed. She then went home and stalled it like I told her but can't say whether she disconnected the Battery like I said ( I know her and that means that she just left it al week with the ignition still on). Probably flat Battery.

Que mechanic 'friend'... he couldn't start it as 'it just clicked' (flat Battery no doubt) and told them to call the garage. Que tow truck from garage... They took it this morn and called later with their diagnosis. Wait for it- new starter motor and new clutch required at £870.

No mention of ignition switch. There is either something very wrong with her description of what went wrong to me, the garage is trying it on or all of us on this forum are stupid....

So guess who is going to put it right on Saturday when we go and visit...

Feel free to slag off garage/ mother in law/ ourselves.

[Raistlin]

My Mother in Law has her own broom, so no Battery problems...

[Mike169]

My mum in law has a vacuum cleaner, cordless, so a turbo charged version if you like, lol.

[Uncle Buck]

Unless (as you say) her description was a million miles off from the reality - the garage people are a bunch of robbing gits !

[voodoocars]

Latest- i fixed it. She had squirted wd40 in the key hole and that seemed to sort that. However, the garage tried to pull a fast one by having the starter motor off when she went to get the car after saying no to the £780 in the hope that she would say yes to at least a new starter..

i checked the Battery which was dead so i charged it up via jump leads and eventually got it running. Tested it by restarting several times and seems ok now. At worst it may need a new Battery. I'm gonna call that garage and give them a piece of my mind.

[Mike169]

Top banana!....as they say, well done buddy!

I caught a garage out once where starter motors are concerned, they told me mine was knackered, they took it off, cleaned it to perfection, sprayed it with matt black paint to make it look like a re-con, they refitted it and tried to charge for the replacement. Knowing what the garage game can be like i made 3 small marks on a few bits under the bonnet one of which was the starter motor. A few well spoken words to the boss in this back street garage and he just gave me my keys and got the job done for free which included a replacement Battery.

Result! Mike169

[Wiz201]

Latest- i fixed it. She had squirted wd40 in the key hole and that seemed to sort that. However, the garage tried to pull a fast one by having the starter motor off when she went to get the car after saying no to the £780 in the hope that she would say yes to at least a new starter..

i checked the battery which was dead so i charged it up via jump leads and eventually got it running. Tested it by restarting several times and seems ok now. At worst it may need a new battery. I'm gonna call that garage and give them a piece of my mind.

Cheeky buggers, so all it needed was Wd40!

[gjnorthall]

If theres a blatant attempt to rip you off by a garage - tell your local Trading Standards your experience.

[crofter]

Ah the aerosol toolbox a very useful thing to have.

The chances are that the release oil has reached the contacts part of the ignition switch and will be enabling to work as it should

This may dry out and the problem return. I would second the suggestion now, made by others and spray some contact/switch cleaner in there.

It can't do any harm

Del

[voodoocars]

I find it hard to imagine that a mechanic followed by a garage visit failed to even check the Battery. They had their other car- an Omega- at the same garage a few months ago. They got charged £215 for diagnostic and replacement of the crank sensor. I remember hearing the chap say " as it's an old car it took longer as some of the bolts were seized and we had to remove the ac compressor and power steering pump to get to the sensor". Now I know vauxhall x20xev engines inside out and a crank sensor can be replaced without removing anything else. Bit fiddly but possible.

After I heard that I had my doubts even though I have had my own car there in the past. It's really got on my paps this has.

[voodoocars]

Right. I had a word with the garage in question. They said that the starter motor was stuck on and full of clutch dust (?). They cleaned out the motor after it failed on 10 out of 12 tests on the bench with direct live. Sounds plausible but it still doesn't explain £600 for a new clutch. And it doesn't explain why the motor would still run even with the key outside the car in your hand.... I was under the impression that once the ignition is off that means no pwer to starting circuit.

Someone stick their two Penny's worth in..