I was misled by some clumsy writing in my Haynes manual and initial appearances to fear that the ignition lock cylinder of a 2001 Jeep was some peculiarly unserviceable example of proprietary black box. But it turned out in the cooler evening to be just a lock cylinder, and very easily removable.
Unfortunately it also turned out not to be the problem. A lot of surfing came up with a new theory: There’s something called an ignition switch actuator pin that is made of plastic and can fatigue to cause precisely the symptoms I experienced before and during the failure, the need to apply force to the key to engage the starter followed by a complete failure of the starter circuit though all the electronics still work. That’s replaceable with special tools I’d rather not buy, plus it would probably take a week to get the part.
So I’m going to see if I can get a neighbor to give me a tow this weekend. What the hell, I’ve been planning to take the Jeep to the shop anyway…
Manual transmission and bad park brake?
Otherwise you can probably jump the starter relay under the car with a screwdriver and the key in the on position to get things running. Pain in the a$$, but can be used as a limp-home option
Also, look up the cam and crank position sensors – cheap, easy to replace, and a common failure that creates those symptoms.
Is it too late in the game to replace it with a rocker switch and a push-button? I mean… who is going to steal it?
You never can be sure, Wolfman, when Laddie will get ticked off enough to do that.