ignition switch repair
 

Has anyone ever had to repair or clean out an ignition switch on a first gen Rx-7? Mine only works intermittently. I think the contacts inside the switch are dirty, but I'm afraid to take it apart. I was able to slide it out of the cylinder where the lock and key are. it's a round plastic part with a panel at one end where several wires area attached. Can I simply spray some electrical parts cleaner through it or do I have to take it apart. Don't want to do that.

i've taken them apart before, they're a pain. several springs in there. i've seen contacts burnt completely up to where they no longer make a connection. sometimes during disassembly the plastic may break then they wont stay together.

Ouch!

I'm afraid to take it apart so I just flushed some electrical contact cleaner through it from a spray can yesterday. I’ll put the steering wheel back together today and try it out.

I wonder if there's anyone out there who sells replacements?

Mazda has the 84-85 ones, and maybe the earlier ones too (i'm not sure off the top).

I just found two types on Rockauto. I don't know why one is $50.00 more then the other? Any idea?

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...er+switch,4700

probably nothing more than the other company carrying the same thing figures they can charge more for it.

1984 ignition switch
 

I replaced the ignition switch on my 1984 GSL today. I took my time so as not break anything or loose any parts. You can leave the steering wheel on if you wish, take off the cowling pieces behind the wheel, remove the one screw that holds the switch insert into the lock cylinder below the left side of the steering column and just slide it out. the rest is just five electrical jacks. Two attaching points on the back side of key cylinder gave me a hard time, but once it had it off I realized that I did not have to re-attach it anyways. You can find the switch assembly online for about $37.00. It was 35 years ago and starting to give out on me. I did not want to be stranded some where.​​​​​​​
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...3ec49c1002.jpg

I'm just looking at doing this myself and was wondering about the connector attached to the side of the key cylinder.
Do you recall how you removed it?
I was thinking i'd have to try and pry it off, but wasn't sure how i'd then attach the new one, but you say it doesn't need to be attached, why is that, does it not do anything or you did some workaround?

no need to pry on anything, there's a small phillips screw at the 12 o'clock position that holds the switch in the back of the cylinder. may need to drop the column down to get a screwdriver on it.

That removes the ignition switch, but i'm talking about the small connector attached to the side of the cylinder, in the picture above it's the connector on the very short cable coming out of the main part of the switch.
It's not attached with screws, you can see it in the picture i've attached.
Can't see how to remove it without forcing it which looks likely to break whatever the connectors are.
Not sure what it does, it has 2 wires going into it, but no connection to anything, just a small plastic button which must press in on the side that attaches to the cylinder.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...abb2386ff9.png

you need a little screw driver, or something to pry those speed nuts off, and then the new goes right on

OK, so those are push nuts, i assume they will break when removing so i'll need to get some replacements?
Do you know what i need, difficult to measure under there, looks like they must be a M2 or M3 size?