986 ignition barrel - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

help.. just parked in shops, turned ignition off, radio stayed on , when I opened door... thought that's odd put key back into ignition and it turned without any clicks to positions 1, 2 and 3 and feels like no resistance there anyone had similar problems reading web to see theres an electrical switch that fails ..but this feels mechanical

The issue is likely with the ignition switch; it breaks up internally giving all sorts of electrical issues and a spongy feel to the key positions. Porsche modified the switch and housing and a replacement is about £100 plus fitting of about an hour and a half. A replacement original switch is available from VW; it was fitted to many a model and AFAIK is still available- and cheap at around twenty quid - fiddly to fit as you replace it with the lock in place (OK if you've nowt else to do and have a torch and small screwdriver bits). Reliability wise it's best to go for the modded version IMO. This article has part numbers and explains it in greater detail; 4hrs is bit keen.... http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_T... Edited by Pope on Thursday 9th March 05:31

Cheers for that Would that electrical switch affect the key turning ?

Yes, it does. My ignition switch broke, the electrical portion, on my old 986. The symptoms were circuits staying on / off and a spring resistance that was pressing the key in the opposite direction. I swapped it myself. I can't remember the parts cost, it was a few years ago, but I think we're talking £20-30. A bit fiddly to do - lying on your back - but not too bad. Good luck.

Part ordered Fingers crossed

Mine did this a couple of years back. I bought a replacement ignition barrel electrical thingie from E-bay, the correct part number etc... The swap over takes about 20 minutes the first time as you grub around contorting yourself head first under the steering wheel to see what you're doing. Unfortunately the switch I was sent was the VW/AUdi version, which although it has the same part number didn't work properly. I ordered another more expensive one, this time making sure it was for Porsche, spent 10 minutes swapping it over, all sorted, perfect. About £40 IIRC.

quick update turns out the housing was at fault, all parts swapped to new housing and refitted that's for the help the links were invaluable to finishing the job

joncon said: help.. just parked in shops, turned ignition off, radio stayed on , when I opened door... thought that's odd put key back into ignition and it turned without any clicks to positions 1, 2 and 3 and feels like no resistance there anyone had similar problems reading web to see theres an electrical switch that fails ..but this feels mechanical I've had the same issue as Joncon ( thanks for the feedback JC) so thought I'd share my experience. Went to take my car for an MOT yesterday after it had been sat for 18 months unused. When I turned the ignition key it was met with no resistance and the steering lock wasn't engaging. After finding this thread I went ahead and removed the electrical ignition switch, via the side panel removal method (no way could I have done it from below) which was a right pain in the butt, took at least 2 hours. I eventually had to customise an already small screw driver to get at the ignition switch screws ( they were covered in red pain which I had to scrape off, that's worth knowing ) which allowed me to finally get the screws loosened. The ignition switch itself looked fine but I had some rust colour water on it, I guess from the ignition/steering lock cylinder. With the electrical switch removed when I turn the key in the lock while holding the end of the ignition/steering lock cylinder ( the bit that goes into the electrical switch ) then it doesn't turn so I guess the actual mechanical cylinder part is broken. Next I removed the key barrel and it looked okay too but the top of the ignition/steering lock cylinder looks broken to me which would explain why the other end doesn't turn. The Pelican Parts website gives some good information on how to remove the ignition/steering lock cylinder. https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_... I've whipped off the instrument cluster, steering wheel and some of the dash and have good access to removal the ignition cylinder now. That took less than 1 hour. And after doing that I wondered why I spent 2 hours+ trying to remove the ignition switch via the side panel. This is why I thought I'd post about this. For me, removing the bits of the dash I needed to get access to the steering lock was quicker than the faffing with the side panel so it might be the way to go for some (tall) people. There are a few good videos to show how to remove all the parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCzwFNG3Izk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6f3bIubc70 I'm waiting on a replacement ignition/steering lock cylinder but it should be easy enough to change now I have access ( bought one off ebay from a breakers yard ) I think myself and Joncon have been unlucky with this issue, so if your key turn has no resistance be prepared for a big bill or a lot of work/learning. Anything else you might be lucky and it's the electrical switch.

I've removed the housing now, was really simple, 5 minute job. It's worth noting that the Pelican Parts description is for a left hand drive car so button ( operation D ) is on the underside of the housing which is on the other side of the steering column and not the top as shown in their diagram... I was able to pick out some of the broken metal parts from the top of the housing so it was definitely broken. and here is the inside of the housing

Having inspected the housing I can actually remove the broken part from the housing ( by removing a plastic washer ). In theory I could have fixed this by removing the ignition key barrel, removing the plastic washer in the housing, removing the broken bit, replace that one part, new washer then put the barrel back in. Could have saved a lot of time and effort by trying that, so if you have a key with no resistance it might be best to start by checking that :-| Every day's a school day

I have broken parts in my ignition barrel but I'm able to remove the key barrel from the steering stalk. Does anyone know if I can source the weird washers from the VW door lock repair kit? I'm having trouble finding the replacement parts. Thx.