When your ignition lock is stuck

Been having a lot of problems with our Hilux (won't start in the mornings) and today the ignition decided it wasn't going work any longer and the steering wheel lock was stuck. Tried (almost) everything online and the only option left was to find a mechanic because they use some stupid proprietary bolts on the ignition mount. Getting the Afghan company to come service the vehicle (that we pay $4k USD a month for) is next to impossible even if we give them a week notice. Also, they can't come on base and we can't get the vehicle off base with the steering wheel locked so.......screw driver+hammer+grinder=problem fixed. (Note: I am a horrible mechanic, I have a short temper when it comes to vehicle maintenance.....and it gets even shorter when I don't have the tools I need. I have also been pretty pissed at the company leasing us the vehicle because they are dragging feet getting me a working vehicle.)





Those ignitions are on there good! I first tried prying it off with a pry bar....then when I bent the pry bar I beat the crap out of it with a sledgehammer. Didn't come off. The grinder was the correct answer. Now the vehicle starts with a screwdriver by turning that round white thing in the first picture. (Oh yeah, no more airbag either, couldn't get the stupid plug out so just snipped the wires. I did get the horn to work again though! )

 

Hey, it works now! The Filipino mechanic here tried to fix it but didn't have the proper tool to take off the ignition mount bolts. I had to pick up mail and the post office closed in half an hour, no time to mess around with all that "proper tool" crap. You should have seen his face when I pulled out my tools and told him to stand aside.

Screwed up part.....the package I was expecting hadn't arrived at the post office yet.

 

Read this 6 times.... still chuckling

 

The company you rent from are going to be pleased with you when they get around to fixing it!
Had the same happen to me in a Land Rover on a gas station forecourt in the uk, a real pain in the arse and know those star bolts are also a pain and not too common in usual tool kits.
Looks like the dust issue is still a problem then, it gets everywhere.

 

I waited on them to fix the aircon for 6 months (it still hasn't been fixed). The engine won't start if it is below 50 degrees (high pressure fuel pump is going out). When they "fixed" that all they did was throw a timer relay on the glow plugs (which was wired up wrong and made the problem even worse).

Here is how they fix the fuel pump problem. (The black relay with a knob on it is what was controlling the glow plugs....which they had set to shut off after 1 second.)



You can also see in the picture where they bypassed a fuse (bottom left) by resting a piece of wire across the fuses (yes, resting....any bump causes everything in the interior to shut off). Those other wires just openly exposed....they go directly to the battery and are just sitting there, not exactly sure what they were thinking about doing with those. We also had to put all the proper fuses back in their correct places as they had just put them in random fuse slots (because all fuses are created equal....things like "amperage" means absolutely nothing to a vehicle's electrical system....electricity is just magic from mohammad). This was all their doing. (Though we came back and rewired the glow plugs to a manual switch that we put in the cab.) Not that I give a sh*t, if it were to catch on fire I'd just walk away and have my company find another, more reliable, company to lease from.

One of the benefits of renting is that maintenance is not my problem. If the crap doesn't work, I leave it on the side of the road and never look back.

I just got an email from the guy. After telling him I needed 24 hours notice he sends me a sob story how he had to drive 400 kilometers from Kabul in the snow and asked if he could meet me tomorrow at 1pm. I don't know how Afghan watches work, but that's not a 24 hour notice in my book.

So anyway....the point I was trying to make is: I don't give a flying f*(& if they aren't pleased with my handiwork.

 

Yeah, it wouldn't have been so bad if the guys would have fixed the aircon during the summer, that way I could just leave the windows up.

and no, there were no parts left over after putting it back together. Not bad for the first time taking off a steering wheel and all its components.

 

You get some pro work for a rental of $4000 a month then, what a piece crap! Looks similar to some of the work done on jeeps here