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Originally Posted by sanddrag
Does anyone know how those things work anyway? Would disconnecting and reconecting the battery reset it?
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Disconnecting and reconnecting the battery won't do anything (unless you want to reset trouble codes in the computer and wipe out your clock and radio preset memory). The ignition lock is mechanically activated by a small rod in the steering column. This feature was added to most vehicles around 1970.
Some standard shift vehicles also have an extra lever to press when you turn the ignition off and want to remove the keys. My 4 spd '81 Citation I used to have had this and so did the 5 spd '87 S-10 Blazer my father had. We never had any problems with them but it is possible for something to go wrong with that also causing ignition and steering wheel to not unlock.
The only time I ever got stranded was when the timing belt failed at 54,000 miles on the first car I ever owned, an '82 Omni. I had just driven 30 miles and was about a 1 1/5 miles from my house when the engine died. Talk about being lucky!
I tried to get the car started but all it would do is "pop" while it turned over. It wanted to start but couldn't since it jumped time. At that time I didn't know what was wrong plus there was no warning before it quit. It was just like if I had turned the engine off. I walked home and my mother called AAA and the car was towed to a local repair shop where it stayed for a week until they were able to repair it.
There's been other breakdowns but all the other times I've been able to get the vehicles back home or to a repair shop.
My thermostat got stuck in my Mustang and was puking antifreeze so I pulled into a supermarket parking lot and waited for it to cool off. After it cooled I took the small Craftsman tool set I always keep in the back out and removed the thermostat in the parking lot. I replaced the gooseneck with as much as the gasket as I could salvage and went in the store and bought 8 gallons of spring water. I refilled the radiator and kept some as spare in case I needed it on the way home. It made it home 25 minutes later with no major problems, just seepage around the gooseneck from the "used" gasket.
When the transmission began to fail on my Caprice I was able to drive it carefully to the Chevy dealer. It just had a nice, distinct burning smell as it drove. I just had to manually shift it from 1 to 2 to D, plus it had no reverse. With the tranny being pretty much toast I didn't care about damaging it more by driving it.
I also was able to drive it to the dealer when the intake manifold gasket blew. I topped of the coolant and it made it there with the temp gage still reading on the cold side and some coolant still in the reservoir.
This is one reason I kept this car even after buying my Camry. My old Chevy has never let me down and refuses to outright die!
