Minnesota Focus Owners Club

The wife is at MOA and says her steering wheel is stuck. Says she can put the key in and start the car, but the wheel is locked.

2004 2.3 5 speed

Any ideas?

Update

The key won't turn....she can't start the car. Bad lock cylinder. Gonna find a locksmith. Anyone now of a good one?

Good to go

$200 with a tow to the shop. Sucks, but what do you do? Don't feel like dealing with it myself. Heading to the river to burn some gas in the boat.

My lock is getting pretty iffy these days too. I was stranded at Micro Center for about 20min and again at a friend's house for another 45min last weekend. About the time I was going to take it in and have it looked at it suddenly stopped acting up.

My girlfriend's '03 has had several lockups too but again not often enough that we're going to do anything about it just yet.

Sucks though either way glad to hear you got it all worked out.

It's a very common problem, Ford knows about it, but refuses to make a recall on it.

frankjt96 wrote:It's a very common problem, Ford knows about it, but refuses to make a recall on it.

Thats because Ford's replacement ignition cylinder does not fix the problem. After a couple of years they start doing the same thing again. The next time it happens stick the key in the ignition and tap the end of it lightly with a hammer while trying to turn the key. It doesn't always work but some times it might get you away from being stranded.

FocusMech.73155 wrote:

frankjt96 wrote:It's a very common problem, Ford knows about it, but refuses to make a recall on it.

Thats because Ford's replacement ignition cylinder does not fix the problem. After a couple of years they start doing the same thing again. The next time it happens stick the key in the ignition and tap the end of it lightly with a hammer while trying to turn the key. It doesn't always work but some times it might get you away from being stranded.

Yep, works like a charm. If it's not too bad, you can usually just jam the key in with some force and it'll loosen up.

to keep it from ever happening try some bi monthly maint. just a little zap of lithium grease will keep it from ever happening.