Beretta.net

The ignition lock cylinder on my 90 GTZ just broke. The car will start but i can not turn it off. So i have to disconnect the battery and pull the alternator fuse to kill the engine.

Has anyone else had this issue? Did you just replace the lock cylinder? Or does the metal rods break? Maybe some plastic piece broke??? Its crazy hot out right now and im not interested in working on it right now. (spent 10 hours yesterday installing a engine in my other car.)

Just trying to get some advice and heads up before i get started ......thanks

http://www.steeringcolumnservices.com/g ... 030896.php

It's near the cyan color outline.

I had the samething happen. Just pull the injector fuse. LOL once was the cylinder another time it was one of the rods.

before that gear was easy to obtain, I installed a push button start with key.

I typed a whole response and its not posted! WTF!

Okay anyways. Thanks for those diagrams. I gotta find some time to get working on it but reading the Haynes manuel i need to take it to a dealer to get it fixed? I pulled the bottom kick panals off and it seems the rods are fine in the white plastic thing.

So it seems it truly is just the key ignition cylinder. It currently spins freely not allowing me to turn off the car. Injector fuse!!! Why didnt i think of that....Thanks!

So thats where i stand for now.....any help? Oh i do have a tilt steering column.

That diecast gear part is hard to see if it failed. Usually have to move the key back while looking at it for separation in the gear part of it (teeth) .

On mine the rod broke where it touches the cylinder.

As a side note I may be able to snag a column or two this weekend. That is if you need to part one out. I sure don't need to have them sitting around.

All my repairs were done at a shop, so I'm not going to be much help.

To answer your first question, yes, some of us have had this happen before...
Same thing happened on my GTU ('89), but it didn't quite get to the point where it would not turn off -just to where I had to work at it a bit. My '90 Turbo actually stranded me at a 7-Eleven because it wouldn't turn on, and it had given me no warning before complete failure. The problem is the gear on the end of the ignition lock assembly that pushes and pulls the toothed part that in turn pushes and pulls the rod that them pushes and pulls the electrical part of the ignition switch. Whew! I often wonder which eight-year-old child of a GM engineer though that one up...

Either replace or repair the ignition lock and you should be good to go. I rebuilt both of mine -neither one will ever, ever break again, as they are now far stronger than OE and will outlast the rest of the car... Aftermarket parts are just as bad as the OE they were designed to replace, but figure that your first one lasted almost a quarter of a century, so...

BTW, there are two different white switches on the steering column with rods going in to them and up towards the steering wheel -the other one is for the high/low beam dimmer for the headlight, so make sure you are looking at the correct switch.

My phone sucks to replys.....its doesnt post! UGH!

Okay, guys i appreciate the help on this. Im thinking of doing it myself to learn since apprantly its a common issue.

So first question. How did you make them stronger them OEM? Please elaborate so i dont have to go through this again.

Next question. I have had to replace the dimmer switch on the column so i am familiar with that. now, ya'll are saying there is another piece on the other side of the column as shown in the picture posted above that may need to be replaced. So it could be that one and not the piece inside the column behind the steering wheel?

3rd question....I will need that special tool to remove the rivets? If so where do i get it?

As for the link posted above, with the rod with teeth that looks like a key, what is that exactly? It rest on top of the key cylinder?

That starts and shuts off the engine mechanically by the twisting motion of the ignition cylinder.

1. On mine, I re-attached the gear onto the end of the lock cylinder, re-dimpled the pot-metal , a little deeper than OE, and actually drilled tiny, tiny holes through it and ran aviation-grade safety-wire through that... Easy!
2. It is possible that the electrical switch farther down on the column has actually gone bad, or the rod to it has disconnected, but it isn't as likely.
3. What rivets?

Got this far, now what? The book states I need a special tool to remove the pivot pins of the tilt column.

I still have not dropped the column.

I dont recall having to remove any more than that to replace that gear. It was somewhat ninja like with the tools, but was not too in depth.

I did drop the column down from the dash tho.

That metal circle with the square hole on the bottom has to be removed with a special tool.

I had the exact same thing happen to my 90 GTZ. Luckily i have a 90 GTZ parts car and I just swapped the steering column over