I thought I had my problem solved with all your suggestions. After doing my searches, and re-reading your responses, I think JamesStein may have nailed it, (thanks for that great site on ignition locks). I replaced my lock cylinder and it worked just fine...well for a few weeks. Now it seems to be sticking again, and I guess it's the steering wheel lock causing the problem. I removed the black steel collar around the lock and it seemed to have worked...again for a week. If I leave the key in the lock and don't remove it, it works just fine. It only starts hanging up when I remove the key. My question is: "is the process to disable the steering wheel lock the same for my W116 (1980 300sd) as for the W123? Does the instrument panel remove the same way?" I had looked for the steering wheel lock pin when I removed the tumbler, but didn't see it. I'm toying witht the idea with leaving the cylinder out entirely if I can't fix it myself... as a mechanic quoted $500 to replace the steering lock. Thanks in advance!

Les

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1980 300sd - Ivory, Tobacco Interior 130,000 miles
2003 Expedition

Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons. - Popular Mechanics, 1949