Clutch is going in the Corolla this weekend. Been putting it off too long.Just junk the thing already.
The VW ignition scheme involves pretty much everything that feeds the dash and ECU going through the ignition switch which was designed to a price point. They tend to fail in a very predictable way - the entire thing is plastic, and the spring that's supposed to rotate the switch back cracks the housing from the stay it butts up against, which then starts to separate the contacts in the switch minutely.So last week, the ignition switch broke on the Fit and stranded me at work. Fucking Honda locks.
Ignition switch was held on with a couple of headless bolts and the fab shop was locked so I couldn't get tools to haul it out, and the missus had to come rescue me in the audi.
Had to remove 5 out of 8 pins in the lock to get it to turn smoothly again. The steel pins rub against the die cast aluminum tumbler and chew it up until the pins get stuck. Stupid fucking design. Go to put the whole assembly back together and it's not working right, fucked something up when I got it apart. Gonna continue fucking with that tomorrow.
Alternative is to spend $875 on a new ignition switch kit that comes with new keys and door locks and everything, do all the work, then tow the thing to the dealer to spend $200 to get them to program the immobilizer to accept the new keys... fuck that.
In the meantime, I plugged the immobilizer back in and have that hanging below the steering wheel with the key laying in it, and I've got the electrical side of the ignition switch hanging below the steering wheel too, and I turn that with a flathead screwdriver and the thing runs. Drove home like that tonight. I've literally hotwired my fucking car.
The turn signal stalk and wiper stalk mount to the ignition switch, so they're just flopping around on the steering shaft, so using turn signals / operating the wipers is a challenge
Fit ignition switch/lock assembly = ~$600 USD. The electrical part isn't sold separate, though you can buy aftermarket ones for ~$80.So, I have 3 or 4 spare ignition switches (mercifully separate from the key cylinder) that I keep on the shelf. The genuine OEM is only $35, so it's not a horrible expense, but the one in the Audi was broken when I bought it, and I replaced it with a convenient aftermarket one that's starting to show signs of failure again.
Hey, I'm not gonna complain about Audi parts prices after paying Nissan prices.Fit ignition switch/lock assembly = ~$600 USD. The electrical part isn't sold separate, though you can buy aftermarket ones for ~$80.
OEM Audi ignition switch = $35 USD.
BUT AUDI PARTS ARE SOOOOOO EXPENSIVE.
I have to dart down to Audi sometime today and pick up an oil filter. It'll be the last oil change I do on the Q5 for a while because it's about to roll over to 100K km, at which point the Audicare package the previous owner bought kicks in which covers oil changes/brakes/tires/everything.