I have an 87 xj and recently the key became increasingly hard to turn. In addition to being difficult to turn it also wouldn't stay quite locked in its normal operating position therefore causing the interior electronics to turn on and off intermittently. If wipers are on they may turn on and off same goes for some of the gauges as well as the fan for the ac and heat.

I decided to change the key cylinder and the swap went perfectly fine. Nothing looked out of the ordinary inside the steering column. After I changed the cylinder it fixed the difficulty in turning the ignition but I still have the electronic problems. It just doesn't seem like it is stayin quite turned all the way. Is there something else that may need to be replaced? Has anyone else had this problem?

Follow the rod from the cylinder down to the switch itself. You can loosen the bolts and adjust it back and forth. See post #14 here:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/ing...linder-186417/

Thanks for the input. I read the thread you posted and several others like it to get familiar with what I needed to do and then got to it. I tore into everything to adjust the rod like was mentioned and found this. I got a replacement switch from the parts store but I will need to fix the plug as well. I'm actually considering a push button ignition to fix it at this point.

New switch and plug and off ya go! Why not, you already have the hard part done.

The infamous "melted brown wire syndrome".

Is there a root cause I need to track down or is "spontaneous combustion" what the M.E.'s report should read?

It's pretty common, even in the GM vehicles which use the same column etc.

New switch and connector. Make sure terminals are tight.

Biggest draws are wipers and heater blower.

They both ground under that cheasy self tapping screw on the driver's side inner fender.

Pull the circuit breaker for the blower and clean up the connections and make sure they're tight.

Also, click on my Pink Link below and see Tip 18.