Failed ignition switch

[Oakmaster]

My 09 Plate 110 CSW let us down in a theme park car-park on new year’s eve.

Failure of the ignition switch – wont turn into the last position (the one that fires up the starter motor)

I thought we could fish out the relevant wires and connect them to a Starter button, (momentary push to make) ( I did the same thing to my 1983 Stage one V8 - actually just a wire which got touched to the red plug onnthe dash)

I have 2 questions

Is there any reason Not to do this?

Which are the wires I need (colours, main and trace)

actually make that 3 questions - how much current are we talking about - ie what do I rate the push button?

Thanks

[Retroanaconda]

If it's 09 is it not in warranty? Don't know how long one gets these days.

Anyway, if it's not just the steering lock doing it's job (wiggle the steering wheel while trying it) then it's easy enough to replace the barrel. The actual electric switch is a separate part at the back that screws on. You'll need to drill out or drift round the shear bolts that hold the barrel to the steering column, but it's not difficult.

You could wire up a starter button instead, but personally I'd just get a new barrel and be done with it.

All this assumes they haven't changed the design in Tdci models compared to older Land Rovers!

[Challo]

On my 300tdi Defender ignition switch is as follows:-

Terminal 2 = thick brown

Terminal 3 = thick white

Terminal 4 = white/orange

Terminal 5 = white/red

Hope this helps

Chris

[dave88sw]

if youve got ignition but its not going all the way to crank, then the switch has partially failed. But if it's lost one position it's probably only a matter of time until the rest gives up, so i'd say put another switch on. If you really want a button though, it should be easy enough to work out which wire does what, on older models brown is permanent live, white is ignition live and white/red is the crank feed to starter solenoid. Accessory is either solid green or white with an orange trace.

Hope that helps

[Oakmaster]

In the end we opted for the Push Button option, I now have a neat switch filling the hole on the lower right hand side of the steering column shroud (where there used to be a grommet) I take the point about the lock barrel continuing to deteriorate, (I’m very disappointed by the continued use of poor quality components by Land-Rover – Its no longer in warranty, but I did have to call them out many times due to starting / relay problems when it was) I had the same lock failure problem with a Stage 1 V8 which for many years I started by touching a loose wire to the red power socket on the dash, the ignition switch lasted about 5 years longer (and about 6 months longer than the chassis!)

Thanks for the replies