Ignition Switch out. Grrr!

[RandallNeighbour]

Had a mixed blessing tonight. Left the office and discovered I had no fan for the A/C compressor. The windshield wipers didn't work either.

When I got home, I was going to check the fuse panel and discovered that I had to wrestle with the key to get it out of the ignition. Took a lot of force to turn it to the far left so I could remove it. The ignition switch had gone out, and that was the cause of the electrical problems... they're all wired into the accessory position of the ignition switch.

Hans, my trusty independent mechanic who only works on Porsches in the evenings and weekends, told me to bring it over ... he had a new ignition switch and it would take ten minutes to install it!

$50 later, I was driving home happy it didn't happen to me between El Paso and San Diego, where no Porsche dealerships are readily available. Even if I was a block from a dealership, Lord knows they'd have charged me $500 or more and I would have no choice but to bend over and take it like an inmate.

So, for all of you owners of older Boxsters who have yet to have this cheap plastic part die on you, see if you can find just the plastic part and not the whole lock assembly, which I have heard Porsche no longer sells separately. The whole assembly is 4x more than just the ignition switch, and takes 1.5 hours of labor to install, versus 10 minutes.

Search threads on "ignition switch" here on this forum and you'll find links that ToolPants has posted on renntech with a picture of it and the part number. If you can find one at an Audi or VW parts counter now, it's one of those things you should buy and throw in your tool box if you plan to keep your Boxster for a couple of years.