Over
the years I have heard the stories of Pantera ignition switch failures.
Apparently the switch has numerous high load currents that pass through it. I
had nightmares of my ignition switch going up in a cloud of smoke. Either
leaving me stranded or worse yet incinerating the whole car.
I came across a new product that addresses this problem with 21st
century engineering. It is called
an “Ignition switch By-pass” produced by Pantera- Electronics
(
website
)
The
isolator is beyond simple to install, even for me the mechanically challenged.
It
will take longer to drop and put back the steering column than to install the
isolator. The isolator also eliminated my Mariah fan engine run on problem.
This was another nice side benefit of the product.
While the column was down I decided to inspect the electrical side of the
ignition switch. It was full of old dried up grease and needed cleaning up.
The article on
this Pantera Place page shows
this procedure.
After thoroughly cleaning up the electrical side of the ignition switch the
key now pops back out. I can now toss out my emergency paper clip for
retrieving the lock cylinder when I removed the key too quickly.
With the “Ignition Switch By-pass” and a cleaned up ignition switch I have
eliminated one of the nagging reliability issues that gave me a lot of
concern. The instructions covered
every aspect of the install. The pictures and diagrams were clear and easy to
follow.