Fall color drive to Galena

Last fall we drove to Mississippi Palisades park to see the fall colors. This year we wen with our neighbors Steve and Vicky to the park and then up to Galena for the annual country fair.
We stopped first at the park where you get a great view of the river from the top of the palisades.





Saturday was a beautiful day and the Ghia was really running smooth thanks to the valve adjustment and oil change. I figured I was getting 30 mpg. Performance that I had expected but hadn't been getting. Then of course It happened. When we went to leave, I couldn't get the key to turn in a lock. Finally after wiggling the wheel and inserting key in again and again, it turned and I was able to start the car. This has been happening recently on occasion and I've not paid a lot of attention to it.

We got to Galena and since the place was packed and we couldnt get to the park for a picnic, Steve and Vicky took us up on the bluff overlooking town and we laid out a sidewalk picnic. Great food and a wonderful view of the town.

Only problem, I couldn't get the key to turn again. *&^%*&& damn Ghia!

So we went for a walk and decided to locate some WD-40 to loosen up the lock.

Galena is full of great houses. What a beautiful place.

Well we found WD-40 and that worked with the lock. But when I got home and took out the key I couldn't turn it easily and obviously needed a more serious repair job. So when we got home I did some searching on the web and found several posts discussing stuck lock cylinders. The main recommendation is to remove the cylinder and clean it with WD-40 (or better yet liquid wrench) to get the old gunk out. This sounds easy but involves several tricky steps.

1. Remove the steering wheel:

• To do this you have to first pry off the horn pad and disconnect the horn wire.

• Next use a 27mm wrench to undo the nut

2. Remove the turn signal and wiper switch assembly:

You have to first unscrew a hex bolt that is accessible from the bottom of the steering column. This is not mentioned in any of the manuals but if you don't remove the bolt you can't get the switches out. The wires are all plug connected so you just pull them off and then you are ready to remove the switches. Four screws hold them in place.

Once your remove the four screws the switches will just pull out.

With the switches gone you can now remove the bracket that holds the lock cylinder in place. Just remove the two screws and expose the cylinder.

Now you can remove the cylinder assembly. Make sure the switch is unpluged at the back then insert the key and turn to the right to release the wheel lock and the whole thing will just pull out.

There is a hole in the cylinder housing that you stick a nail in that presses the release spring. The key has to be in the lock and turned to the left (off position). You can then just pull the cylinder out of the housing.

A lot of liquid wrench followed by WD-40 and the lock is as good as new. Key works smoothly and doesn't stick anymore!

I used some white silicon grease on the steering lock components and reassembled everything.

Everything worked great except the headlight dimmer switch. After removing the steering wheel again and on inspection I found that the switch was not making contact. A little piece of rubber and some glue and it now works just fine.

An awful lot of work but now I can start the car again.