A funny thing happened ..Ignition key

[Xtractorfan]

I always keep my power pack in my car.. today I was driving into town and as the power pack hadnt been charged in a few days I thot why not hook it up to the cars charging system and let the car charge it up. Stopped in town ten minutes.. wife in the car.. and when I returned the ignition key wouldnt turn the ignition, tried locking , unlocking, cleaned the key and the switch, blamed the missus cos she took the key from the ignition to open the glove box to get a pen.. total confusion, and visions of a new ignition switch. then I spotted the plugged in power pack, unplugged it and hey presto key worked, plugged the power pack in again and the key wouldnt work, tried this a few times and same result.. I can only think that the power pack was draining power from the battery.. but there again.. the cigar lighter isnt live when the ignition is switched off..strange

2001 S320 CDI 130K

 

[television]

no answer to that one for the minute

 

[wireman]

Most strange, however the power pack will provide power back into the socket when the key is off, so perhaps this power source can do strange things to the operation of the ignition/steering lock.

 

[Xtractorfan]

Maybe just an omen to change that 7 yr old battery I was praising a few months ago

 

[anyweb]

could be that yeah, by the way what is this power pack you are referring to ?