Key stuck in on position
Asked by Bob Oct 30, 2017 at 09:55 AM about the 2002 Pontiac Sunfire
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
When I went to start my car this morning
the engine started but none of my gauges
worked and I could not shift out of park,
this has been happening at random ever
since I replaced my battery. Usually if I
turned the key forward a little bit that
would fix it, but not this morning no
amount of turn or jiggling the key worked.
The key is now stuck in the on position and
I had to disconnect the battery to kill the
engine.
4 Answers
JeepWranglerX09 answered 7 years ago
That happened to me once with my Jeep. I put in in Park, turned the steering wheel back and forth a couple of times, and then I rocked the Jeep back and forth until the transmission clicked and realized it was in Park. Then it let go of the key. Hope that helps!
I've tried that I can pull the key out even with it stuck in accessory I can even turn the key forward to turn the engine over I just can't get it to turn off. So I'm wondering if maybe the ignition cylinder lock needs to be replaced. I don't want to spend 200 on the replacement if that is not the problem
Sounds like a safety neutral switch is bad..it thinks the car is still in drive ..i would if ya can have that checked first before replacing the key cylinder. If the safety switch is bad..some mechanics can bypass it fairly simply..had a Chevy blazer do the same thing once...think it cost me around $100 to fix
It was definitely the ignition lock cylinder I just bit the bullet replaced it, the vehicles anti theft system prevented it from starting. Thankfully I found a guide online to reteach the VATS to the new passlock sensor. Now it starts right up and the key turns like it is supposed to.
