Falcon xh ignition switch problems

[Jjdenby 1]

Hii im new to the owners club

I have a slight problem with my ute. When you turn on the igintion to the on position everthing works but when you turn to sturt it al you hear is a cluck sound from the engine bay (probably the aircon clutch kicking in) i have read somewhere online that if you hit the steering colum against the dashboard it will start and it worked for a whine but now its not doing anything. The funny thing is that this only happens some times and not allways. And funny enough the owners manual says leave it on for 30 min and then it starts but this method does not allways work i would really like to get to the bottom of thus please

[hendrixhc 10,918]

Not an expert on these but i seem to recall something about faulty smartlock module with dry joints or capacitor issue. Hit the dash cause a temporary making contact situation with allows it to start.

 

@Thom is a 4.ol expert and may be able to shed some light.

[Thom 6,650]

Not an expert on these but i seem to recall something about faulty smartlock module with dry joints or capacitor issue. Hit the dash cause a temporary making contact situation with allows it to start.
 
[mention=43]Thom[/mention] is a 4.ol expert and may be able to shed some light.

James is on the money, temperamental starting is usually caused by a faulty or failing body control module, if you are really handy with a soldering iron you can repair them as it's usually a dry solder joint causing the problem, if you are lucky and you manage to find a similar module at the wreckers you can just replace it and hope it works or you can get a j3 chip for the ecu and bypass the immobiliser all together

[Demmo 295]

Just to add to that I have same problem in my xh where it won't turn over half the time  with key in start position them bump steering wheel an  hey presto your away

it does have the j3 chip fitted already   so  you maybe like me have another underlying problem that I am still searching for   anyway sorry to put a dampener on this  I hope your problem is not same as mine an you get it solved

cheers demmo  

[deankxf 20,266]

9 hours ago, Demmo said:

Just to add to that I have same problem in my xh where it won't turn over half the time  with key in start position them bump steering wheel an  hey presto your away

it does have the j3 chip fitted already   so  you maybe like me have another underlying problem that I am still searching for   anyway sorry to put a dampener on this  I hope your problem is not same as mine an you get it solved

cheers demmo  

your problem could be the IGNITION SWITCH (electrical part itself), i had to replace mine on the XG XR6 i had, i went to pick a part and looked for something with smartlock(mine had smartlock) and chiseled one off (hammer against a screw driver to the ridge on the switch) an EF that had low kms (less worn perhaps) the XFs etc had grub screws holding the switch in, the XG and later have knurled pins that cant be undone, but knocking the switch out didn't damage anything on the EF at the wrecker, or MY XG, so i refitted it, and pressed the pins back in with multi grip pliers.. fixed it.  (sold the car, was driving me insane with similar issues, but i was sure it was fixed after that)
needed to IGN ON for 30mins to unlock the smart lock.. but all good after that

[Jjdenby 1]

Thank you everyone for the advise. I have allready disabled the immobiliser and i think i might be the smartlock module but ill will try every suggestiin. Its a bit hard for me to get parts for it because its 1997 and on top of that i live in south africa so its very hard to get spare parts for it 

[deankxf 20,266]

49 minutes ago, Jjdenby said:

Thank you everyone for the advise.

 

Its a bit hard for me to get parts for it because its 1997 and on top of that i live in south africa so its very hard to get spare parts for it 

 

wow, it's hard enough to get parts here.
good luck,  older cars are a pain sometimes

[Demmo 295]

On 4/2/2020 at 6:35 AM, deankdx said:

your problem could be the IGNITION SWITCH (electrical part itself), i had to replace mine on the XG XR6 i had, i went to pick a part and looked for something with smartlock(mine had smartlock) and chiseled one off (hammer against a screw driver to the ridge on the switch) an EF that had low kms (less worn perhaps) the XFs etc had grub screws holding the switch in, the XG and later have knurled pins that cant be undone, but knocking the switch out didn't damage anything on the EF at the wrecker, or MY XG, so i refitted it, and pressed the pins back in with multi grip pliers.. fixed it.  (sold the car, was driving me insane with similar issues, but i was sure it was fixed after that)
needed to IGN ON for 30mins to unlock the smart lock.. but all good after that

thanks for the suggestion Dean

although this problem is spasmodic, I have a feeling that it may be the tumblers in the ignition switch. before I left on my last trip away in it I sprayed an electrical contact spray into the barrel. For the first two days where I was stop starting heaps I only had to knock the steering wheel a couple of times.  So I sprayed some more into lock and the remainder of the trip it was back to square one where the steering wheel is the immobiliser.  Think I will have to go find a wreck an have a look see an maybe try an ignition  swap, or just sell the outback and put the money into the xg that has been neglected over the years.  one less car licence may make the war office a little happier  

[Jjdenby 1]

2 hours ago, Demmo said:

thanks for the suggestion Dean

although this problem is spasmodic, I have a feeling that it may be the tumblers in the ignition switch. before I left on my last trip away in it I sprayed an electrical contact spray into the barrel. For the first two days where I was stop starting heaps I only had to knock the steering wheel a couple of times.  So I sprayed some more into lock and the remainder of the trip it was back to square one where the steering wheel is the immobiliser.  Think I will have to go find a wreck an have a look see an maybe try an ignition  swap, or just sell the outback and put the money into the xg that has been neglected over the years.  one less car licence may make the war office a little happier  

I have done this four about four months and its not helping anymore

[deankxf 20,266]

9 hours ago, Demmo said:

thanks for the suggestion Dean

although this problem is spasmodic, I have a feeling that it may be the tumblers in the ignition switch. before I left on my last trip away in it I sprayed an electrical contact spray into the barrel. For the first two days where I was stop starting heaps I only had to knock the steering wheel a couple of times.  So I sprayed some more into lock and the remainder of the trip it was back to square one where the steering wheel is the immobiliser.  Think I will have to go find a wreck an have a look see an maybe try an ignition  swap, or just sell the outback and put the money into the xg that has been neglected over the years.  one less car licence may make the war office a little happier  

see below, there is no electrical stuff inside where the key goes

6 hours ago, Jjdenby said:

I have done this four about four months and its not helping anymore

there is no electrical connections inside where the key goes, 

the issue is on the back part of the ignition barrel, the key itself can be sloppy and worn i reckon.. the back part of the ignition lock is pinned with 2 pins, (used to be held with 2 screws in XF XE right down to XA i bet even) 
i changed mine after BAYFORD WRECKERS(Bayswater Vic) told Me they have changed HEAPS of them in older ford Territory (no idea why just territory) but it's common. they didn't have one on hand when i wanted to buy one, so i went to pick a part and looked for the smart lock car with the lowest kms(wear on the carpet/steering wheel etc) and knocked off with a hammer and screw driver the back of the lock switch(this pushes the pins open)  undamaged by my rough method, i bought it(with warranty, just in case) and fitted it to My XG the same way(knocked mine off) and squashed pins back in with multigrips..  FIXED..  

the reason that i decided it might be the ign switch, was because when the car was running sometimes, the "LIGHTS ON" dash light would light (only comes on when ignition is OFF, while lights are on, this happened while i was driving occasionally) 

i sold the car, didn't need another "PROJECT" needed a reliable daily.. so kept the diesel gemini.. 

 

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/FALCON-EB2-AND-ED-NC-1992-1994-FAIRLANE-IGNITION-SWITCH-WITH-KEY/402021092275?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3Da7ef61f9ec4245fb8e1dfe3831ebd8a8%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D402059897944%26itm%3D402021092275%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWeb&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

[Demmo 295]

cheers for the info