I considered stuffing some newspaper behind the dashboard under the ignition switch, but that really was not necessary. This was slow, but it worked fine and I was able to get the bolts as tight as I wanted.īefore beginning I had some concerns about either of the bolts falling out of its hole when fully loosened and lodging down low behind the dashboard.
I could twist the bolt between 1/12th and 1/6th of a turn before I had to reset the wrench on the bolt. This also helped during installation of the new switch. I could also get enough of a finger into the area around the ignition switch and push at the bolt heads to speed their removal. After the bolts were a little bit loose, I was able to reach around through the instrument cluster opening and turn the back end of the upper bolt by hand. In these two photos you can see how the wrench fits through the opening around the ignition switch and onto the bolt heads.
Changing ignition switch driver#
The same two bolts are hidden behind the dashboard.Ī 10mm open end and box end combination wrench that I could sacrifice.Ī nut driver with a 7mm wrench socket attached.Ī torch for heating and bending the wrench as needed (I used a carbon arc torch on an electric welder.).Ī vise (for holding the wrench while heating it for bending).Ī hammer for making the bend in the wrench as sharp as possible.Ī Dremel tool with a cylindrical grinding bit and a burr bit.Īuxiliary lighing (flashlight or a mechanic's trouble light) In the Malibu the bezel around the radio simply pries off, and when it is removed the two bolts that hold the ignition switch in place are fully accessible. But, the dashboard trim in the Malibu is different from that in the Alero. The Oldsmobile Alero has some "cousins," like the Chevrolet Malibu. I decided I wanted to remove the ignition switch from my car for examination and possible replacement, but do it without removing the dashboard.
I read articles like this one to see if my 12 year old car with 110,000 miles could be suffering from an ignition switch in the early stages of failure. Still, the same difficulties returned a few days later. In that previous Instructable I had believed my ignition switch tested good and I soldered some metal-on-metal connections to by-pass oxidation that may have added a critical amount of resistance to the circuit.
In a recent Instructable I discussed problems with the instrument cluster on my 1999 Oldsmobile Alero. This Instructable will show how I replaced the ignition switch in my car without removing the dashboard.
0 kommentar(er)
