This 2001 Chevrolet Silverado came in with the complaint that the ignition key will not turn most of the time. I removed and inspected the lock cylinder and housing assemblies and found the fault with the tumbler assembly. The following are pictures of dis assembly.
Grasp the corner of the dash and pull out. Repeat pulling process across the dash.
Remove the screws from the bottom cover and pull the whole cover towards the seat and remove. Do not pull just on the bottom edge or you will break retainers. Work the whole panel loose top to bottom.
Remove the tilt wheel handle by wiggling and pulling straight out towards driver’s door
Remove screws from steering column cover, separate and remove.
Remove the steel knee bolster from under steering column. There are four nuts, two on each side.
Locate and separate the ignition switch junction block at left side of steering column.
Now go back to the lock cylinder and work the key until you finally get it switched on. Changing the position of the key in and out slightly while wiggling and rocking the switch will usually allow the key to turn on. It may take quite a bit of trying if the lock is in real bad shape. After the key is turned on, rotate it fully to the crank position and depress the retaining pin in the top of the assembly. With the pin pushed in pull the lock cylinder out.
Install new tumbler by inserting in the ignition housing and turn the key off. Reassemble and you are done.
I am going to do another post on how to code the new tumbler kit to your key.
Update July 11, 2011:
Well it was bound to happen, a bull in a china shop had difficulty reinstalling the lock cylinder and has now messed up his steering column. Wants to blame poor information from this site. I cannot stress enough that all of the work performed by me, on this site requires an extreme eye towards detail and a gentle touch. No part of this repair in particular should require any force or coercion of any kind!
Some extra things to keep in mind:
The new ignition switch needs to be indexed into the exact position, as the old switch was in, when it was removed. The ON position.
The key tumbler assembly needs to be checked, to make sure the locking bar drops flat and even towards the center of the tumbler assembly when the key is installed. If it does not, DO NOT INSTALL IT!
There is a retaining bar/panel that holds the springs in place for the individual tumblers. If it is not fully installed and flat, no protrusions past the outside edge of the tumbler housing, DO NOT INSTALL IT!
Oh god please help!!! This was great info as someone tried to steal my truck I decided to just remove the cylinder altogether as it was having issues. Now the truck won’t stay running!!!! Started and ran fine before. It fires right up but dies again. Truck is an 01 silverado. Are there some wires I can hook together to bypass something that’s causing this???
This is great info thanks, I used it today to replace the ignition key lock assembly in my truck. I disconnected the battery first then took the shortcuts as was mentioned in the previous post. It was a little difficult to remove the streering wheel cover as it was the snap on type and I didn’t remove the knee buckle or tilt handle but I had to bend the top cover carefully to get it off then everything went accordingly well. I had a chiltons book but, it was not nearly as good as this. It would have taken hours and for a first timer at this repair it only took me a half hour. 🙂
Yes, you can pull the relay. You also could pull the fuse or disconnect the battery. The last of which all repair manuals recommend and it is a good idea. I do not always do it as it can create other problems. Since I work on all years makes and models, I prefer disconnecting the ignition switch as a habit, as it will not set codes that I may have to deal with later. On some of the later models there are no retaining screws for the upper steering column cover. Since I do not want to break things, if I see screws in a lower cover I always start by removing them first. All of the “wasteful” steps that I do take about five minutes.As far as recoding goes, I was referring to coding the new lock cylinder tumblers to the original key. Again from experience I know that some keys have transponders in the head of the key and the tumblers have to be set for the original key or you have to go through an expensive process to program the new key to the anti theft module. This vehicle did not have that system present. I am going to add some links to the post for some of the steps that are missing. Information is power and through this site, the power is virtually free.
After re-reading the article, You do not even need to “Re-Code” anything. The computer does it. If you get one from an auto parts store like O’riely’s it self programs. Sure there is a “Factory” way to do it but I’ve tried it. Does’nt always work on ignitions already programmed for other trucks.
First, Instead of removing the knee cover and all that, Just pull the starter relay. Cuts down on time, hunting down tools and a chance to lose hardware. Second, You do not have to remove the tilt handle. Anouther useless step. You DO NOT need to remove the lower column to do this job. I know this because I had to do twice on my own truck and once on a friends. Save time, Save money. Sounds like a repair shop trying to get extra money on labor by doing un-needed additional steps to charge more.