Help!

1997 SL-1, manual

My ignition key is stuck in a position halfway between "lock" and "accessory".

I can't pull it out, and I can't twist it even slightly toward either the "lock" or "accessory" positions.

When I turn the steering wheel, the antitheft lock generally does not engage, though sometimes I can feel it give some resistance to turning and then let go.

No idea what to do. I have tried trying to twisting the key back and forth while jiggling the steering wheel for over an hour but the ignition switch is firmly stuck, won't rotate even slightly in either direction, and the key won't come out either.

I've also sprayed lock lubricant with graphite powder into the lock but that didn't help.

I've noticed before that there is some resistance to pulling that particular key out of the slot (when the cyclinder is in the correct position for removing the key, the "lock" position) so it may not be a great copy but I tend to think that's not involved in the current issue, since the key is fully inserted and the cylinder has turned out of the "lock" position. Am I right in my thinking, that the quality of fit of the key into the ignition cylinder should not be an issue at this point? Or could that still be part of the problem?

More to the point -- what to do now?

Thanks for any advice

 

A worn out key or a copy of a worn out key is most likely the entire problem. I would bite the bullet and ask a locksmith what they would charge to repair the car. You may need both a new lock and a proper set of keys.

 

Push in like hell when trying to turn it to the lock position. That's actually what you are supposed to do under normal circumstances. You probably have been doing it unconsciously because that's the only way the key won't come out so push and turn but don't snap the key off. You might want to try a little bit of PB blaster in case there is some rust in there keeping it from rotating. Down along the key, then wait half an hour. Not too much but enough.....

I've had this problem with an original worn key copy. Took me 45 minutes of trying, pushing in while trying to turn rocking the wheel when it suddenly went flying into lock position. Don't ever put that key in there again

 

I'd follow derfs advice since he's been through this personally. I had a Dodge Caravan years ago that my key got stuck in. After managing to get it freed up by gently tapping on it and using graphite and WD-40, I bought a kit from Autozone that had new tumblers in it. I cleaned up the old assembly and one by one replaced the tumblers. They were numbered by position so I had to be sure to replace the old one with the same number new one. After getting it all reassembled, that sum beech worked like a charm even with the old key. I did get a new key made and it worked perfectly. Total investment was somewhere around $25 but this was about 15 years or so ago. I don't even know if they make one for Saturns but if so, you might try that.

 

Playing around with the replacement cyclinder I bought, here is how the replacement works-- presumably the original is intended to work the same--

* When the key is first inserted, you can't push the inner unit further in until you start to turn the key.

* Once you start to turn the key clockwise, the inner unit automatically cams itself further in as you approach the "ACC" position, even if you don't push at all. This inward camming action begins when the key is about lined up with the letter "S" in the word "PUSH", and continues until the key reaches the "ACC" position.

* Once in the "ACC" position, the key freely travels between "ACC", "RUN", and "START" with no need to push in, and with no change in the in/out position of the inner unit.

* To move at all counterclockwise from "ACC" back toward "LOCK", you have to push in on the key to get past a "step" where the inner unit must be moved very slightly further in. Then you can continue to rotate the key freely further CCW with no more pushing until you get to a detent just before the "LOCK" position. You encounter this detent when the centerline of the key is lined up with the left leg of the letter "U" on the word "PUSH". You have to push again, and, you can feel the inner unit go very slightly further in, to get past this detent and get all the way to the "LOCK" position.

* So the need to push in on the key should normally only be associated with moving CCW from "ACC" into "LOCK", in which case there are two specific places where you have to push to turn the key further CCW.

* Once in the "LOCK" position, the inner unit stays pushed in until you pull the key out, at which point it pops all the way out.

*Alternatively, once you've returned to the "LOCK" position *after* having the key at least as far CW as the "ACC" position, then if you turn the key back CW *again*, it actually pops *out* slightly, rather than camming in, when you reach the "ACC" position. So when you approach the "ACC" position in this manner, the inner unit is already deeper in than it needs to be to move into the "ACC" position and then move freely between the "ACC", "RUN", and "START" positions.

* So when the key is in the intermediate position between "LOCK" and "ACC", the inner unit will be slightly further in if the key has already been turned at least as far as the "ACC" position after insertion and then turned back CCW of "ACC", than if those steps have not been taken after the key was inserted. (**** So, two possible depths of insertion of the inner cylinder when the key is intermediate between "LOCK" and ACC", with the deeper insertion happening if you have already been all the way to the "ACC" position after insertion of the key into the slot ****)

* So, it's complicated.

* Continuing to look at the new ignition cyclinder I picked up yesterday:

* If I put pressure on the square "button" on the outside of the ignition cyclinder that I suppose must be associated with the steering wheel lock mechanism, this has two effects-- it prevents the key from bring turned CW past "RUN" to "START", and it prevents the key from being turn CCW past "ACC" to "LOCK". It doesn't affect the CW / CCW movement of the key when it is about halfway between "LOCk" and "ACC", like at the "U" or "S" letters in the word "PUSH". Which makes me tend to thing that the steering lock mechanism *might* not be involved in my particular problem.

(Edit: maybe I'm mistaken about the function of that square button-- maybe preventing the key from turning in some positions is not an intentional design feature-- it can only be pushed all the way in when the key is in the "accessory" position; its main and perhaps only function is to hold the cylinder in place in the housing. But, since I can't get the key to the "accessory" position, there's no way I can reach in there with something and push that button in.)

 

* Looking at my jammed ignition cylinder-- the key is intermediate between "LOCK" and "ACC", roughly lined up with the letter "S" in the word "PUSH". the inner portion is pushed in, as one would expect when the key is in this intermediate position. It is difficult to tell exactly which of the two slightly-different positions in the marked line above in previous post (**** ... ****) the inner portion is in, i.e. whether or not the key has already been turned as far as "ACC" and then back. Pushing in on the key as hard as I can isn't helping. Waiting for PB Blaster to have some effect...

 

Excellent analysis.
This will become a sticky when you get the key out.

One of the tabs in the tumbler is likely not sliding freely up and down when you place the key in. The key is worn enough that it goes in anyway. It's now hung up on that tab which is partially against the key but it is not perpendicular and it can't move freely up and down right now so it's holding your key.
I know this doesn't make any logical or physical sense necessarily, but when you get to those detents, it is the entire tumbler moving in and out with the key in it, not moving relative to the tumbler. My suggestion of pushing in on the key is to get the stuck key pressure off of the stuck tab so that it can slide up out of the way and the key can come out.

Most of the time it really doesn't take much distance of shifting the key relative to the tumbler (and stuck tab, which upon further thought, can be on either side of the key).

It's pulling on the key that bends those tabs such that you can't ever get them out of the way because they physically can't slide back to where they're supposed to be.

Think about what those tabs of the new cylinder look like and how they move when they are correctly keyed for the key and what happens when you pull the key out and I think it will make more sense.

 

My brother put a cresent wrench on the key and held some presure on it to turn the key while rapping down on the top of the key with a hammer (applying force in the direction that would push the key deeper into the lock.). That did the trick. He was able to force the key to the "ACC" position. Then after removing the bezel and taking off the plastic covers, an angled tool could be used to push down on the button that released the ignition lock cylinder, and the cylinder slid out. Outside of the housing, the old lock cylinder seems to operate semi-normally-- it turns between the various positions, and there is no problem taking the key in and out when it is in the "LOCK" position. But a lot of brass-colored flakes are visible under the key slot -- apparently bits of the key or the tumbler pin/s or both. (I'm not sure whether they were created during the various times in the past when the cylinder rotated to the "LOCK" position just fine but the key was hard to pull out, or when my brother forced the cylinder to turn against much resistance, or both.)

The replacement lock cylinder (with its own new key) went in fine and seems to be operating fine. (It did take a while to get it in-- I didn't have the loose piece with the shaft and the spring at the bottom of the inside of the lock cylinder housing, pushed quite in all the way for much of my effort.)

(Am I using the right terminology? That whole unit that you see in the pictures is what I am calling the "lock cyclinder". If that's wrong, well, you still get the point -- )

Brass-colored flakes that apparently were washed out of key slot

Brass-colored flakes that apparently were washed out of key slot

Old key looks rough after finally removed from lock, with scrape marks across both the length and width. New ignition lock uses a different style key. It will be impossible to accidentally insert the old key (retained for use in the doors) into the new slot -- that's a good thing!

 

Happy to learn of your success.
I would surmise that the hammering knocked some of the problem pins out of the way / out of the cylinder. I also would have expected the key to snap, but maybe he's had experience at this force method.

Neither here nor there. You back in business.
One more back on the road.
Don't be a stranger

 

I edited my previous post substantially to better to describe the method that was used to finally move the key. He wasn't actually hammering on the end of the wrench; now it makes more sense how the key could tolerate that without breaking. (Derf's idea of downward pressure on the key was being put into practice.) Also pics added.

Thanks much also to everyone who contributed to the thread and also to the other related threads I also viewed. Go team Saturn!