key won't come out!!!!

[cassie]

Okay this has happenned before, but in the past few days it has happened like 5 times:

Whenever I shut my car off and try to pull out the key, the key sometimes gets like "locked" into the ignition, it's weird, like if I restart the car and shut it off a couple times it usually eventually comes out....whats up w/this?

'98 3.8 camaro

[Loochy88]

thats weird... is it an auto or manual? i think i remember hearing about this somewhere before

[silvachris1]

In the auto, if you shut off your engine before you put the car in park, the key cannot be removed. I'm saying, if your in something other than park and turn the key enough to shut off the car it will mess up. I think that's right anyway. I haven't coasted up my driveway in a while, so I can't remember for sure if this is how it acts. Next time I get in, I'll try it. The next time your car does this, put it in park(if it's not already), then move it back into another gear, then back to park. See if that helps. If you think about it, it makes good sense. If you're not in park, you're probably moving, so you don't want to remove the key since that causes the steering wheel to lock up. Anywho, it's late, so this may all sound stupid come tomorrow morning.

[00swartz]

Been pretty cold recently and locks have a tendency to be a bit stubborn. To help out your lock try a little graphite (dry) and first use it on the teeth of the key. That should ease the problem.

[chazz]

Your key may be worn out or bent, do you have a spare set of keys you can try ?

[Red96CamaroRS]

It can well be all the above. Most likely, if its an auto, the key will not comeout until the car is completely in park. Just try slamming the shifter in park and see if it comes out. If it doesnt work, try the rest-

[fbody4life]

I had the same problem. My problem was caused a bad shift accutator. It made it extremely difficult to shift out of park and sometimes it wouldn't click into park. You didn't describe this problem, so I figure your problem is caused by not having the shifter fully engaged in park. Even if it seems to be in park, make sure the knob on the shifter is firm(if you are able to press it without pressing the brake then your not fully in park.) This seems pretty simple stuff, but somethimes we don't even think about it. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[cassie]

thank you guys so much, i think it DOES have something to do w/me SLAMMING into park....lol oops. Today I did it again and as I was struggling to get they key out, i heard it "click" into park.....thanks a bunch!

[momoarrowz]

I suffer the same problem, turn the car off, hold down the shifter button, put it in accessory then back to lock, should come out.

[bu-bye]

I know just what your problem is. I just fixed mine from doing that. Here is what to do....

1. Remove the shifter knob by pulling the metal clip out from the front.

2. Remove the whole center piece (cup holder, ash tray, ex). Be sure to disconnect the Cig lighter wire

3. Now that you can see the guts of the shifter. push the white plastic stick where the knob was. The stick will slowly move up or not all the way. If you also move between gear such as R to D you will see two rods below the shaft that also move.

3. Use WD-40 inside the shaft where the white rod is and on the two metal rods. Then push the white shaft many times and move the shifter bank and forth from Park to first gear to work in the oil.

That fixed my problem. I used to have to SLAM into Park too. Shoot me an e-mail if you have any questions.

[ January 21, 2003: Message edited by: bu-bye ]</p>

[bu-bye]

if you don't have time to oil the guts just remove the knob and pull up on the white rod when you put it in park. Your key will come out every time. just place the knob back on without putting back in the clip. I drove around for a couple weeks doing this until i had more time.

[ January 21, 2003: Message edited by: bu-bye ]</p>

[Chrisz24]

sometimes if you park on a hill and have your wheel turned and weight is on the stearing wheel it wont release the key too, my old car did this all the time so I would just turn it to ACC and let the wheel unlock and it would come right out.