The key spins in the ignition and nothing happens

Two parts are involved and almost every page online treats them as one. The ignition lock cylinder is the part your key goes into. The ignition switch is a separate electrical part, mounted behind or below the cylinder on the steering column. The cylinder carries no current at all.

Turning the key rotates the cylinder, and the back of the cylinder, called the cam or the tailpiece, drives the ignition switch through its positions: OFF, ACC, RUN, START. On many vehicles a small shaft called the ignition switch actuator pin sits between the two and does that pushing. The detents you feel, those firm clicks at each position, come from the switch, not from the key.

When that link shears, the cylinder still turns. It turns more freely than it ever did, because it is no longer moving anything. The switch stays in OFF, the starter is never commanded, and you get exactly what you are describing: a key that goes around and around while the car ignores you.

That is the whole diagnosis in one sentence: the key is turning, the switch is not. Everything below is about telling which of the two mechanical causes you have, and ruling out the three unrelated faults people usually try first.

The repair is a lock job, not an engine job, which is why a locksmith and not a tow truck is the right first call. The column shroud comes off, the lock cylinder comes out, and the broken link or the worn cylinder is replaced. On many General Motors platforms the replacement arrives as an uncoded cylinder, sometimes called a code yourself cylinder, which means the wafers and springs get assembled to your vehicle code on the spot. Strattec is the original lock supplier on most General Motors and Chrysler platforms, so the replacement hardware matches what came out.

If your key is worn, the new key is cut to code, taken from the vehicle rather than copied from the old key. If no key exists at all, the existing lock is decoded with a Lishi two in one pick and decoder before anything is cut. Where the new cylinder can be keyed to your current key, it is, so you keep one key for the doors and the ignition instead of walking away with two.

Wherever the car is parked is where this gets done. The vehicle cannot be driven with a switch stuck in OFF, so the alternative is a tow plus dealer labour plus days without the car. The on site repair skips all three.

Commercial vans and trucks are part of this work, not an exception to it. Ignition jobs on the Ford Transit are in our own records, and our call logs include a Freightliner Sprinter 2500 and a GMC Savana. If the vehicle is a work van, say so when you call, because the column hardware and the key type differ from a passenger car.

One thing we will ask for before we touch the ignition: proof that the vehicle is yours. A title, a registration or an insurance card in your name, plus a photo ID that matches it. A locksmith who does not ask for that is the warning sign, because the same skills that open your car open the next one too.