How does a car ignition key stay (be retained) in the barrel of the lock in all positions except "off". Afaik when the key is in, all the tumblers are down and the barrel can rotate in the cylinder. - but there must be more to it than that, else the key could be pulled out in *any* position. (?)
Have a look at:
You need to look at it another way. The only time the key can be "moved" is when the pins are free to move up and down in the tumbler.
I most certainly have seen car keys that can be removed whilst the vehicle is running, even being driven. Probably not an intention of the designer/manufacturer but sometimes useful.
My old Morris Minor was like that.
But then, that was because the key was knackered.
The Fiat 131 had 2 positions the key could be removed - steering lock on and steering lock off, but ignition still off IIRC. This might also have been the position AUX power was available (eg to the radio)
When you put a key in a lock it lines up the pins exactly at the shear line to allow the barrel to rotate. There are 2 sets of pins `key` and `driver` Once the barrel rotates the key pins are locked in place by way of the `cut of the key`and cannot be raised or lowered so the key cannot be extracted.
Erm and what prompted this? Try to steal a car, or broke the key in the lock? Brian
My car won't let you take the key out unless the gearbox is in park, even when the ignition is switched off. So there must be some sort of interlock.
My car won't let you take the key out unless the gearbox is in park, even when the ignition is switched off. So there must be some sort of interlock.
SAAB?
Ah, an automatic. That still catches me out from time to time. It's not as if I need that to remind me that I'm driving an automatic, I've got its moronic engine/gearbox management behaviour to thank for never letting me forget it.
Oh, how I hanker after a manual shift but it's the wife's car and she's needed an automatic ever since her botched treatment of an achiles tendon injury over a decade ago. Since we can't justify the expense of even a cheap secondhand runabout just for my pleasure, I've just had to grin and bear this cross with my usual bad grace. :-(
You just need a better automatic. I love mine and would be most reluctant to go back to driving a car with a "jerk-box". ;-)
Tim
They're much better than the slush boxes of the 70s, though. I had a Rover 45 with teh rubber-band gearbox - very nice. Even the clutch-less auto in my C4 is generally better than a manual. I can't be arsed to worry about changing gear, these days.
Absolutely. For everyday transport I no more want to change gear myself than I do set ignition advance or fuel mixture.
OTOH, my race car(s) is(are) a manual. Although having driven some paddle shift cars last year, I'm quite taken with those.
+1
Chris
I agree! We used to have a Volvo automatic that was a joy to drive before we were forced to replace it due to the automatic gearbox failing in an expensive way. The replacement being our current vehicle, a Y reg Astra 1.6 automatic 5 door hatchback which just keeps going. Part of the reason for its longevity being the very low annual mileage (circa 5000 miles) and the fact that the driveway it's parked on acts like a wind tunnel meaning any rot inducing moisture is very swiftly dealt with.
The automatic gearbox works smoothly enough. The problem seems to stem fron a gear shifting algorithm based on the assumption of a full complement of Americans and the maximum permitted weight of trailer hitched to the back. IOW, it keeps changing late when accelerating to cruising speed and is all too willing to change down if it meets the slightest incline unless you're doing 40mph or faster which isn't good news regarding its urban cycle fuel economy performance.
Maybe not economically viable but it's just possible that an automatic gearbox specialist could do something about that for you. Has it been like this from new or is it possible that it's gradually got worse (thereby concealing the fact that it's a fault rather than a feature)?
Tim
That thought has crossed my mind from time to time but I'm pretty certain that it was like that when we bought it 2nd hand. It's certainly had that behaviour for at least the past 4 or 5 years so it doesn't look like an impending failure, perhaps a little wear on an adjuster that wasn't optimally set in the first place.
I think the problem is down to my high expectations that the automatic box should be able to show some approximation to 'intelligent' gear selection where, with a very light touch on the accelerator it should be able to hold onto top gear at least down to
30mph when the engine revs drop to 1400.When I'm driving a manual car, I'll often not change down unless the engine shows signs of labouring. The road speed at which this can start happening is, of course, rather dependent on whether I'm simply maintaining a speed of 25mph on the level or whether I'm in a bit of a hurry to accelerate up a slight incline from 30mph (5 speed box with a tallish top gear).
It also depends on whether I'm entering a 30 limit zone on an uphill stretch that I know levels off just as the engine is about to start labouring where I'll make best use of the not quite sufficient torque to extend the distance over which the car loses speed because of that shortfall in torque at the wheels due to being "in the wrong gear".
On longer uphill stretches I do the same except that I'll change down when the speed has dropped to the point where I can see I'm fighting a losing battle well before the engine starts labouring. When I can see that I need to change to a more appropriate gear ratio to complete the ascent, I don't push it to the lowest revs limit since it makes no sense to lose _that_ much speed or I'll find myself having to change down yet again.
It's hard to properly describe a sympathetically economic driving technique in a manual car since all your senses are tuned to how the engine is responding to your treatment. The aim is to avoid unnecessary use of lower gear ratios than are actually required for the road/traffic conditions. That automatic box doesn't do as good a job imho.
Many years ago now, a works colleague who was in the habit of towing his caravan all over the hilly bits of the uk with his manual Range Rover found, much to his surprise, that the new automatic version gave him a significantly improved fuel economy when towing the 'van.
I suspect our Vauxhall "Ashtray" might well show a similar improvement compared to its manual counterpart under this type of use, hence my remarks regarding American passengers and max weight trailer.
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