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Key Stuck

S

SteveDebbi

New member
My car has been sitting for about a week without being started. We just bought it and it needs to be taken to a mechanic to be checked out so we were going to drive it on a trailor to do that. THe key went in the ignition fine but will not start and the key will not come back out. The car didnt come with a manual and we have no idea if this is common. Maybe a security thing or something else. Any advice would be helpful.

98 Grand Prix gps
 


call pop a lock. more than likely there are tiny bits of metal in the ignition. They will clear it out and it will be fine. after 15 years its bound to happen
 
Another possibility is that the battery is completely dead. had the same problem with the '02 I just bought. Went to start the car, no power. Then I couldn't get the key out until I put a jump starter on the batt. Hope this helps :)
 


Under the column is a hole, stick a screwdriver up in it to release the key. Happens on mine all the time. If you can't figure it out, let me know and I will try to get pictures.
 
Mine does the same exact thing and one of the most common issues with this is a bad solenoid or another common issue is that one of the wires under the shifter isn't making a connection so you car doesn't think it is in park and won't allow you to take the key out. The easiest way to get the key out if you don't want to go removing things is pushing the manual release button under the steering column and you can take your key out after that.
 
I would agree with L36 Killer that the first thing I'd check for is battery/charging issues. I had the same thing happen when my battery finally died. Didn't really get a warning, either (no dimming lights, no hard time starting, etc. up until then). I just stopped to get a hair cut, and when I came back out to the car, it wouldn't even make an attempt to turn over, nor would it release the key the majority of the time while messing around with it. I've also had to replace the wiring harness in my center console when a couple of the wires from the gear shifter/indicator broke (found it had been repaired once before by the previous owner), and it wouldn't shift out of park or release the key because it couldn't tell the brake pedal was being pressed.

If it were just stuck, and the car started fine, I'd say either the brake release solenoid, or a break in the wiring for that solenoid in the center console. But since it won't start, I'd say much better chance of it being a battery/charging issue.
 


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