At a friend's workshop today, and his show & tell for the day was an IGN barrel and the foot-long piece of steering column holding it, The switch mechanism inside the unit had self-destructed and on this model (2007 Ford) you can't simply remove the switch-barrel. - later ones have a screw holding it in - the whole assembly has to be replaced... along with the IGN key.

$1,400 for the unit, plus a few hours to R/R... plus more time to re-code the new IGN lock/switch/circuitry to the car's ECU and another $60 to 'buy' the magic code...
The whole exercise will set the owner back over $2K when all expenses are paid.

The other piece of Progress is a trend back to un-service-able parts, in this case 'in-tank' fuel filters. Jap 4WD diagnosed with blocking fuel filter... After TWO access hatches, the filter and pump assembley is removed, cut open to confirm (Yechh!) and replaced.
All up is close to $300. The Paj was relatively easy, he said. - Just lift the carpet. Many vehicles need total rear seat removal plus more.

The more stories I hear, the more I like Older Cars... even RRC's. Makes the $hock of parts replacement easier to bear.

The other gem was about diesel injectors needing to be individually programmed into the ECU. - Some Jap engines require this. Not always, as the work-around is to get the engine started and run it at a constant high RPM. - Apparantly the ECU self-adjusts after a while.

I'm told that replacement td5 injectors also need to be formerly introduced to the engine.... This fix might apply for us as well...