I have a 92' Ford Taurus wagon with the 3.8 V6. The wife took the car out and came back and parked it in the driveway with no issues.I go out to it 5 minutes later and the car will not start.The key turns and the car has full power to it but it will not turn the car over. I'm pretty sure the ignition switch was toast before this as I could turn the car to the run position without the key and while the car was running you could remove the key.When i try to start the car now the key will do a 360 either way.Any ideas?

David

It sounds like you have a bad switch and perhaps a bad lock cylinder. You might find more information asking at

http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/index.php?act=home

If it's a common failure, the folks there will know about it.

We have a 96 Taurus wagon. When it starts and runs without issues, I feel like we won the lotto again this week.

I love the car and would buy another.
When i mentioned switch, i meant the cylinder that the key goes into.What do you mean by switch?
Thanks for the link, i'll give that a shot.
Thanks for the quick reply, i'm stranded without a vehicle till this gets fixed and my other car goes in for emissions testing

David

On my '96, there is a lock cylinder in the column. If the key fits, the lock cylinder can turn from acc, off, run and start. Behind the lock cylinder is an electrical switch that closes the circuits to run the ignition and energize the starter motor.

If the key spins 360 degrees, I think something in the cylinder is broken, since the cylinder should have prevented it from turning more than the range.

The switch behind might be damaged now from the key turning past the normal range. It's just a hunch. My CD only goes back to '96. I had the cylinder out once because the buzzer won't stop. A small contact is broken loose... the contact that detects the key. I was amazed what the parts cost and told the parts guy to keep them, lol.

Here is the procedure for a '96 ignition switch remove & replace. Your 92 might be different.



Check with the guys over on TCA. They have saved me a lot of bucks on this car.

More info:

Thanks for the help. I posted over on the taurus site and hope someone can help me out.

David

Those specific car sites can be a lot of help. I have a 'quick link' into a Bonneville site and I use it often. You can usually learn exactly what you need to know by doing a 'key word(s)' search.

My problem is moisture in the solenoid.It froze up last night.Got the car to start but looks like i will end up replacing the starter and solenoid as my wife drives the car and for her to jack the car up and get under the car and tap the solenoid and find someone to crank the key till it kicks in is not gonna fly
Thanks for the replies.

I think you may be off-track. Moisture in the solenoid can lock it up, but that wouldn't happen in five minutes with a warm engine. You say the car wouldn't start or click over five minutes after it had just been running. I can't belive those parts would freeze up that quickly.



Well, you describe the lock cylinder as letting you remove the key while the car is running. The key shouldn't be free to turn 360 degrees. I think that is a problem with the cylinder. That has nothing to do with a cold or frozen solenoid. More likely you have at least an issue with the lock cylinder, because the key should not be free for removal while the car is running or freely turn through 360 degrees of range. I think that is part one of the problem. The switch located behind the cylinder might be damaged or it might be disengaged between the lock cylinder and the modular switch.

You describe the starter solenoid as freezing up five minutes after the car was running okay. Unless you're living at the North Pole, I can't imagine moisture in the starter causing a problem so quickly. Moisture with cold temperatures can freeze a starter, but not in five minutes.

I think you have some other issues with the car beside frost in the solenoid or starter. Since you depend on your Taurus to go when you need it, I think you need to look deeper into the problem. The problem needs a diagnosis before dumping money on top of the problem.

On our Taurus, we have had a battery go bad just this way and on very short notice. It worked great one week and the next week it wouldn't crank over. But the key didn't spin loose 360 degrees.

At the least, you need to measure the voltage at the starter when it exhibits the issue with key turned to "start". If you don't have power at the starter, you can't blame the starter until the problem of getting power to the starter is solved.

Our '96 Taurus has all the typical issues such as a confused transmission, dropping shrapnel into the cam position sensor, heater core leak issues and much of the stuff you'll read about over on TCA. But those are very common issues and there's advice on TCA for quick remedies outside the dealership. We're coming up on 100K miles and it's still going.

Bigbird, i replaced the starter and my problem is fixed.The key and cylinder is an issue, i agree it should not spin or be able to remove the key while running.I neglected to mention that it would spin 360 without the key but when cranking it would only go as far as the crank position.Thanks for the tips and the link as i will probably use it.

David

I'm glad you got it going. It sounds like you have something broken with the lock cylinder as well. Mine has a key detect contact broken free from the plastic. It only buzzes with the door open, so I'm letting it go for now.