Hey guys.
I've got a 93 Ranger XLT with the 2.3L 4cyl engine. When I turn the engine over the starter will often stay "engaged" (I can hear it spinning and "rattling") for several seconds. I've noticed that most of the time I can manipulate the lock cylinder to get it to disengage, but the cylinder itself doesn't seem to have any "play" in it. The cylinder itself is only a few months old, since some nice fellas from the neighborhood halfway house drilled the living s$#t out of the prior one in an attempt to steal it. In the process they also destroyed the wire (not sure what it's called) that runs to the bottom-ish portion of the lock cylinder. Given I don't know what that wire/switch was called or the function that it served I don't know whether it's playing a part in the issue. Of course it could have nothing to do with the cylinder, just seems like more of a coincidence. Any suggestions on where I can start with the diagnosis would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

The wire on the key switch is for the door chime, when you open the drivers door with key in the ignition there should be a chime reminder to not lock the keys on the car

The key turn a gear on the back side of the cylinder
That gear moves the Actuator Rod that runs down inside the steering column to the Ignition Switch under the steering column above brake pedal
The ignition switch is where all the wiring is

Ignition switch looks like this: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KK2uO_xaDKA/maxresdefault.jpg

The Actuator rod slides the Pin on the ignition switch into its 4 positions, ACC, OFF, RUN, START

START position has a spring that pushes it back to RUN, do you feel that?
or do you have to turn it back to run?

You can unhook either battery cable and test that, turn key to START and let it go, should return to RUN on its own

Ignition switch is not all that hard to get to and remove, and once its out you can reconnect its wiring and battery and then manually move the pin to its 4 position to see if its working OK or is the problem.




Start Motor has a solenoid on it, picture of starter here: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Y6gAA...gwB/s-l500.jpg
The smaller cylinder is the solenoid
When starter motor is activated the solenoid pulls on a lever that pushes starter gear out to engage the ring gear/engine
When 12volts to starter is cut the solenoid pulls the gear back, if it doesn't then starter motor will still be spinning and making a noise

No way to test that without pulling starter motor

 

Thanks Ron. The lock cylinder does return back to the RUN position on it's own after turning the key to START. I did remove and inspect the ignition switch and it seems to be mechanically functioning properly. It does, however, seem that the one in my truck differs from the photo you included and don't know whether the variation would impact diagnostics. The picture of mine is attached below. The only real difference is that as opposed to a pin coming out of the switch (like in the photo you included), mine has a slot/channel that the actuator slides into.
Is there a way to test the wiring to the ignition switch to see if that's the issue?