[headviking]

My friends 2001 7.3 has a problem (sometimes) without warning there is no crank. He will try a couple of times and then it'll start. I came over to see if I could help. The truck started, no problem. I jiggled the key and tried it did not crank. So now we know that the problem is in the ignition key, somewhere. I tried again and no crank. I pulled up a litle on the key and tried ..it started. I pulled the ignition cylinder/key out and found a black plastic piece at the 10 o'clock area on the out side, just hanging there. tried to position it back to it place and it would not stay. removed it away from the cylinder and replaced the key/cylinder and the truck started every time. The only thing that was not right was that when the key is in and the door is open there was no chime anymore. The was was a purple and a black wire that was removed from it's position. At the end was a single bent contact.

Anyone know what this wire s and by removing it will it cause any future problems?

 

[klhansen]

That wire grounds the key in ignition circuit coming from the GEM. Lots of guys disable it, either by tape over the contact, clipping the wire, or removing the wire terminal from the connector under the dash.

Won't cause any problems.

I'm assuming you've got the no-start problem fixed.