Ignition switch short? No power...

saburai

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Hi gang! So we pulled up stakes from Florida and are heading north to the Catskills. We made it about 5 hours to a friend's house to set up camp for the night. Pulled in, shut the truck , unhook the RV jacked it up, and went to pull away. turned the key and nothing happened. No lights, no power anywhere. Move the Tilt column up and down and momentarily had power in the accessory position but then that quit too. Any ideas? Ignition switch linkage? For the ignition switch itself? Something else? With luck, I'll be able to fix it tomorrow. We've got to hit the road again soon... Any input would be greatly appreciated!
 

laserjock

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It’s suspicious that you had power on accessory even for a moment. If memory serves, none of the actual power wires come up to the tilt. Towcat is spot on. It’s either the ignition switch down on the column or something broken in between most likely. Next thing to look at are the fusible link wires on the fender starter relay. All power for the truck originates there.
 

saburai

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does the key switch rotate like normal or does it spin freely?

Yes, it feels normal.

It’s suspicious that you had power on accessory even for a moment. If memory serves, none of the actual power wires come up to the tilt. Towcat is spot on. It’s either the ignition switch down on the column or something broken in between most likely. Next thing to look at are the fusible link wires on the fender starter relay. All power for the truck originates there.

I'll drop the column shortly and take a look.

Thanks for the help guy's!
Do you have any links to .pdf documents or any other resources that would show me the location of the fusible links? Also, a good graphic, exploded view of the steering column would be really helpful! I wish there was a complete shop manual available online... I have the whole Factory manual in PDF for my Jeep, it has been an invaluable resource.
 

franklin2

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All the fusible links are out near the starter relay on the pass side inner fender. All the power for everything on the truck originates over there, and that where most all of the important fusible links reside.
 

chillman88

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Reach up on top of the column and feel for the actuator rod and see if it moves at all when you turn the key.
 

saburai

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So I'm outside at the truck poking around, looks like I'm going to get rained on as per usualo_O please excuse my electrical ignorance, but how does one test the fusible links without puncturing the wires? I truly like to avoid that! Also, can anyone recommend the proper, or a good diagnostic procedure, i.e. What order to test things? I'm pretty good mechanic but electrically I'm kind of an idiot:rolleyes: everything in the cab is dead, interior lights Etc, things that would normally be hot. I'm assuming that everything goes through the ignition switch? Thanks again everyone...
 

79jasper

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Well..... to avoid puncturing wire.... go from one end of the wire to the other end with your probes........

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 

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