I have recently had occasional difficulty turning the key to start the truck. (91. 2.4) After jiggling the key around, it eventually allows turns in the cylinder and starts the truck. Today, however, after this happened, I found myself starting the truck with the key out of the ignition. It moves easily to the four positions, no key required. What does this tell me? (P.S. I have read the earlier threads on similar ignition problems, but not found this exact situation.) Thanks. JXM

 

Your ignition key cylinder is bad/broken

When you put a key in a lock the valleys and peaks on that key push up and lower pins in the cylinder, if its the right combination then you can turn the cylinder if its not then you can't
But if key gets worn down, or pins do, it will make key/cylinder harder to turn because 1 or 2 pins are hanging up, eventually these pins will break the cylinder, so it just turns any time, no key needed

Google: Ford ranger remove ignition key cylinder

Its easy to do, turn cylinder to RUN(on), WITH KEY IN, then use a small screwdriver to press the release pin under the lock and pull out the old cylinder
After you get it out check inside for pieces of the cylinder that have broken off

You can get a new cylinder with new keys but then they won't match door locks
A lock smith can change the new cylinder to match your current keys, "re-pin" it

If door locks are also getting harder to use you can get a whole matched set, ignition cylinder and 2 new door locks all using same keys

Since you have a Ranger older than 1999 PATS won't be a concern

 

Thanks Ron D. Helpful as always. JXM