As I was enjoying the beautiful Saturday driving my 86 fiero I came to a light
and my car cut off and usually I can restart my car this time I couldnt Had
to coast to a parking lot and had my car towed home. The key switch moves freely.The panel lights do
not light up nor do the gauges move.When I push the key the ignintion I
hear the chime. My headlights come on fine. So whats the call here? bad
ignition switch? also my power windows dont work now.

Inspect the ignition switch connector and terminals for signs of overheating. All switched power for the car goes through the ign switch and I have seen connectors melt and the terminals lose contact.

Might be quite a few things.Check your fuseable links.Yea,might be the ignition switch (not the key switch),you will need a mirror to see the screws holding it on and a stubey screw driver.But first you should allso check your battery cables for acid on the contact sides (preventing your battery from charging).After checking the battery cables for acid on the contact sides,check your battery to see if its fulley charged.If your alternator died,then you drove the car untill the battery was drained.Most likely you wouldn't be able to crank the car.But First check those battery cables.

[This message has been edited by James Bond 007 (edited 03-16-2013).]

There are a lot of things to check.

Does the starter turn the engine over? What is the voltage reading on the battery? If you turn the key and the engine fails to turn over, do you have a clicking sound coming from the starter? Does the car start if you jump it?

There are many more follow-up questions to ask depending on the answers to the above.

There is nothing coming on like gauges,panel lights , air and no clicking sound just a chime when pushing the key in.
I will start getting the car diagonosed starting with fusable link battery seems fine headlights work

There are 2 fuseable links by the battery that feed power to the fuse box. The headlights are fed by fuseable link "A", since the lights are working, that link should be good. The chime module is fed constant B+ through the "stop/hazard" fuse. This fuse recieves power via fuseable link "B", since the key in chime is working, more than likely that link is also good. Do your brake lights work? They are also fed via fuseable link "B". An easy way to check the links is to give them a light tug, if they are burned out inside, they will stretch when you pull on them. If the links are good, the next step is to inspect the 2 10gauge red wires going to the ign switch, these 2 wires feed power to all of the circuits that come on when the key is on. You will need to get your head up under the dash to see them, the switch is mounted to the top of the steering column with the wires facing to the right. Turn the key to the "run" position and give the wires a wiggle and see if any of the affected systems react.

[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 03-17-2013).]

When you say the key turns freely do you mean like it's not connected to anything? That just might be the case. I wonder if the ignition switch might be loose. If you can reach the switch behind the dash on top of the steering column see if it's tightly attached. If not you should probably pull the dash and drop the column (not as hard as it sounds) and make it tight. When you have the dash apart turn the key and see if the ignition pushrod moves. If not - well, just hope that it does.

Ok guys the brake light is working also my alarm light is blinking so all my lights are working
just no start up panel lights key just moves like normal with a chime when pushed in.
I am having my mechanic come to my house in the morning to check everything like
the fusable links and switch I bought a new ignition switch from advance auto $13.99 incase
i need it.

Ok guys my mechanic belives its the gear mechanism in the
steering column that is gone bad. Any suggestions for a retro fit
gear mechanism? or where I can get a new part that goes inside the steering column?

quote Originally posted by Atlanta1: Ok guys my mechanic belives its the gear mechanism in the steering column that is gone bad. Any suggestions for a retro fit gear mechanism? or where I can get a new part that goes inside the steering column?

Gear mechanism? do you mean from the Key ign switch to the actual Ign switch on top of the column?
Just go to a junkyard and get a column..lots easier to change that then messin' with the "gears" inside the column..

quote Originally posted by Atlanta1: Ok guys my mechanic belives its the gear mechanism in the steering column that is gone bad. Any suggestions for a retro fit gear mechanism? or where I can get a new part that goes inside the steering column?

This is the problem you didn't want to have. While the parts are easy (it's a Dorman Help card) and the tools are not bad (you can borrow them from O'Reilly's for free) it's a pretty big job. You'll also need a pivot pin puller for about ten dollars, by the way. There is no real way around it either. A rebuilt column (or rebuilding yours) seems to run about $300. The problem with a junkyard column is, unless it comes with keys, you still have to take it apart to install a new key cylinder.

If I were you I would look into the problem some more before attempting this. Look to see if that pushrod moves when you turn the key. If it does you probably don't need to take everything apart.

My mechanics who has dealt alot with gm steering columns will be
replacing the all new rod,gear mechanism , and ignition switch rebuilding the
steering column has so many small components.The parts will cost me around $130.00

i have a bad feeling about this