My daughter mentioned something to me which made me think my battery could be dead. Sure enough I got in the truck and tried to start it, and it was dead. I hooked up the battery charger and it’s OK now.


What did she tell me? When she was out at night she noticed the clock on the radio was on. The clock on the radio is only supposed to be on when the truck ignition is On or switched to Accessory. With the battery charging I checked it out and sure enough the radio goes on when the ignition is On/Accessory and turns off when the key is out.


What I discovered is that if I’m a little sloppy when taking the key out I can accidently switch it to Accessory before removing the key, so the key is out but it’s in Accessory mode and the radio (and whatever else comes on in Accessory mode) is now on and draining your battery.

 

this is very interesting. My key cylinder doesn't seem loose like that. It might be possible to be a mis-adjustment in the lever that goes to the ignition switch (I believe it's on top of the column?), as i would think the key cylinder would retain the key until all the way back.

 

I thought so too. I have the button that needs to be pushed in to get the key out, but if after pushing the button I turn the key to the removal position, but overshoot a little engaging the Accessory potation, I can sometimes remove the key. Playing with it, most of the time I can't remove the key when I overshoot, but there is a small space where it's in Accessory mode and I can get the key out.


Again playing with it, I have noticed that if the key comes out smoothly it's probably in the correct position, but if it's a little rough coming out then it may be in Accessory position.

 

what you said is new to me. i can see that it could happen. ill watch more carefully how the key comes out. thanks for the heads up. i do not work on my truck my self any more. so i have gone to a "repair be for failure" mode. i have my battery and starter replaced every 4 years. i have had no "no starts" in 8 years. only cause i cant work on my own truck any more.

 

Yeah, that’s why I posted it up – it seemed weird to me too. I think if you drive it every day the little that you lose overnight won’t cause your truck to not start the next day, but I hadn’t driven the truck for over a week and that was enough to kill the battery.


I’m just going to try to remember to check the radio/clock before exiting to see that it’s off and try to remember to make sure I slide the key out easily and not overshoot.


Today I took it out to the Post Office to mail out some stuff and was in hurry and when I had the key in my hand I checked the radio/clock and it was on. I need to be a little more careful.

 

I have noticed I can turn the key as the OP noted and remove it. I just check it now when I turn off the engine.

I had a '92 Explorer for many years, and realized one day I could actually remove the key by pulling it straight out from "run" while driving down the road. Next time I had my wife in the vehicle, I started driving down the interstate, pulled out the key from the ignition, handed it to her and said "would you hold this for me?" Scared her to death. I guess she thought we were about to have a wreck.

 

Ha! Yeah, I remember back in HS a number of my friends would grind their keys so they could pull them out at any time and do something similar.