Why Ford BA & BF Falcon Ignition Switches Fail (And How to Fix It Permanently)

For many years going back as far as the late 1960’s Ford has used the same design for their ignition switches.  Albeit with minor differences in the quality of materials used for casting the main housing of the switch.

The Difference Between Factory Cast and Billet Aluminium

The housing on the left is the billet aluminium housing CNC made by engineers in Melbourne and the one on the right is the factory cast housing used by Ford.  Over the years Ford & BOSCH who made the ignition switch and sent to Ford to assemble into the steering column at the factory has used a slightly differed in the casting material used which can physically be noticed when squeezing the metal and working with it.

In the image above, you can see the difference. On the left is our CNC-machined billet aluminium housing made right here in Melbourne. On the right is the original factory-cast housing. Over time, the factory metal becomes brittle—much like sandstone—and eventually crumbles under the pressure of the internal return spring. 

Unfortunately the cast material deteriorates much like sand stone over the years in which the spring that returns the key after starting chips away at the metal pieces its attached to.  The spring pictured inside the white plastic part will either break off the metal tab or twist the whole part putting pressure on the wiring loom attached to it forcing it to fall apart.  Again the cast metal material isn’t strong enough to hold the switch together whilst the internals are twisting once the spring has worn away on the switch housing.

Failure Rates

The failure rate is very unpredictable as to when the ignition switch will fail but we can assure the failure rate is 100% and it will eventually happen. We’ve worked on vehicles with 60,000km and others with 600,000km+.  There seems to be no correlation between the condition of the ignition switch and the functionality of the key and barrel mechanism since the ignition switch is a spring loaded system floating on ball bearings.  It ultimately depends on how the spring chips away and twists inside the switch year after year.

Most Common Ignition Switch Failures

Summer time seems to be the biggest trigger for failure with a large percentage falling apart mostly due to the grease melting inside the switch and lubricating the edges allowing for the wiring loom to wriggle loose. Metal will also expand and contract under extreme heat, some days I’ve actually had burn marks on my arm from touching a scolding hot steering column in the midst of summer.  There will often be no indication something is wrong when you jump in the car, we have many customers arrive at the shops etc. come back to their car and its fallen apart without warning.

If you are fortunate enough that the spring return stops working and doesn’t return to the accessories position after starting then do yourself a favour and get it fixed as soon as possible.  It could be anywhere from days or years away before it falls apart but when it does you’ll be stuck unable to turn off or turn on the car.  We know from experience but without physically looking at it then its a complete gamble on how long it will last.

Usually by this stage the switch has failed in multiple ways, already half fallen apart and the spring return tab well worn.  It’s just a matter of which one will fail first and how long until it completely falls apart.

The Warning Sign: Failed Spring Return

If your key no longer ‘springs back’ to the accessories position after you start the car, you are on borrowed time. This is the first sign that the metal tabs inside the housing have snapped. It might last days, or it might last months, but eventually, the switch will collapse, leaving you unable to turn the car on—or off.

More Information

Check out our post for some trouble shooting tips Ford Falcon & Territory Starting Problems: 7 Things to Check Before Calling a Mechanic or about Second-Hand Ford Falcon & Territory Steering Columns: Why They Are a Risky Gamble

Don’t Tow It – Fix It Onsite

Replacing a steering column is expensive and often unnecessary. We specialise in rebuilding the ignition switch using the high-quality CNC billet aluminium housings shown above.

• No new keys needed (Keep your originals)
• No towing required (We come to your home or work)
• Lifetime Guarantee On the New Ignition Switch Housing (Better than factory cast metal)

Ford Falcon & Territory Ignition DIY Fixes: Why YouTube Fixes Can Cost You More

In the age of the internet there is a wealth of knowledge shared however this can lead to some very questionable sources of information with the “just do this” attitude. The “just do this” attitude is what gives people the false impression it’s easy and there is a reason we chose to specialise for this problem.  With regards to this issue of fixing an ignition switch we’ve seen just about every fix possible by the DIY community and Youtube videos, we’ve seen them because they all fail in the end.

Some of the more common DIY repairs:

• Put it back together and put some cable ties on it to hold it together
• Put it back together and apply glue to stop if falling apart again
• Obtain another switch from a steering column and cut off the faulty one and splice the wires attaching the replacement
• Drill a hole in the switch and install a piece of wire or a roll pin to replace the piece of metal broken off from the spring
• Rewire and splice a later FG Series falcon ignition switch or an older one from earlier Falcon’s

Some of the more creative DIY repairs:

• Using a roofing screw and cable tie for good measure to hold it in
• Insert a screw under the switch and filing it down smooth for the spring to work off
• Installing a push button to bypass the ignition switch from various switches
• One poor customer paid an auto electrician to essentially hot wire the car and teaching the customer what to do just leaving exposed wires between their legs

Whilst these may work they are more often than not a short term fix to get you going cheaply it’s likely to fail again or force the spring to pop out of its housing causing more issues.  If you haven’t read our post on what’s wrong with the ignition switch post check it out here

The main problem with putting it back together is the condition of the metal where the spring returns the key back to accessories from the start position, whilst we are talking about a surface area of only a few millimetres it has a massive impact on the normal operation of the switch.  Even if you get it back together the spring is still going to be twisting as it mounts to the deteriorating lug which it will inevitably fall apart again at some point or it will break off as the best case scenario.

The second biggest problem is the condition of the cast metal housing, unfortunately it is a very brittle material which splits and tears quite easily which we can see in the picture here.  Like most metals once it’s been worked it doesn’t retain anywhere near the structure it had before so the risk of it falling apart again over time is likely.

Brute Force Isn’t The Solution

One of the biggest risks of putting it back together is breaking the wiring loom plate, this is Bakelite material and extremely fragile.  If you break this then you’ve just made an easy problem to fix into a much harder one. I don’t know how many times I’ve been told it just fell apart like that whilst the owner swears they did nothing but take out the screws. This only happens because you force it together and you can’t see the locator pin for the wiring loom on the inside of the switch housing rim. For the sake of everyone’s sanity brute force rarely fixes the problem properly without causing further damage.

Should you happen to be reading this after the fact and looking at this image wondering where the hell I can get one of those, please call us we can usually source them at an additional cost to supply when we install a new ignition switch. We don’t sell wiring looms on their own, unfortunately its a lot of effort to track down and sources these so we only supply them when installing onsite.

More Information

Check out our post for some trouble shooting tips Ford Falcon & Territory Starting Problems: 7 Things to Check Before Calling a Mechanic or about Second-Hand Ford Falcon & Territory Steering Columns: Why They Are a Risky Gamble

Save Your Steering Column – Get it Fixed Properly

Don’t gamble with your car’s reliability. A ‘short-term’ fix often results in getting stuck at a shopping center or, worse, having your car fail while driving. DIY is inexpensive for some and extremely expensive for others when it all goes wrong.

We specialise in rebuilding the ignition switch using the high-quality new parts.

• No new keys needed (Keep your originals)
• No towing required (We come to your home or work)
• Lifetime Guarantee On the New Ignition Switch Housing (Better than factory cast metal)