My key won’t come out of the ignition Farley often. I have to put the shifter back into drive then into park. Sometimes I have to do this three or four times before it releases the key. Has anyone had this issue before? Battery is in good shape and no other electrical issues that I know of. Thank for your time
Key won’t come out of ignition intermittently
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Welcome to the forums!
Did you search these forums yet? That is asked and answered at length in many threads. There is a lot to go over and can not be duplicated in this one thread. Could be your battery is low but not dead, could be the key is going bad, could be the switch in the shifter is not detecting park, other possibilities.
Is that the only issue? No anti-theft warnings? nothing else is going on except the key will not come out some times? If that is the case, I am leaning toward the battery not being at top capacity or the car not detecting being in park correctly.
Did you search these forums yet? That is asked and answered at length in many threads. There is a lot to go over and can not be duplicated in this one thread. Could be your battery is low but not dead, could be the key is going bad, could be the switch in the shifter is not detecting park, other possibilities.
Is that the only issue? No anti-theft warnings? nothing else is going on except the key will not come out some times? If that is the case, I am leaning toward the battery not being at top capacity or the car not detecting being in park correctly.
Solved!
Turns out that over the years the linkage has worn out enough to put the lever out of adjustment. Adjusted the linkage beneath the vehicle (10mm nut) to fix the problem.
Always mark the original location when making adjustment to anything. Loosen nut and position the nut and bolt assembly towards the rear of the vehicle in relation to the trans lever. If you move it too far back your car will not go into reverse gear properly. (know from experience). Presto! Key comes out every time!
Turns out that over the years the linkage has worn out enough to put the lever out of adjustment. Adjusted the linkage beneath the vehicle (10mm nut) to fix the problem.
Always mark the original location when making adjustment to anything. Loosen nut and position the nut and bolt assembly towards the rear of the vehicle in relation to the trans lever. If you move it too far back your car will not go into reverse gear properly. (know from experience). Presto! Key comes out every time!
AH, so the sensor for "park" was not being triggered because the shift lever was out of adjustment and not triggering it. Good catch!
Yeah exactly! I guess the range sensor is inside the transmission because I didn’t see it outside the tranny or by the shifter anywhere.
So after adjusting the shifter linkage by the trans the problem has happened much less but the key still won't come out of the ignition on occasion. I have also noticed sometimes my radio stays on after I leave the car (this was happening before I made the adjustments). I have spent the last two hours reading threads. seems like this is a common concern with these vehicles, most being the ECM. I am leaning towards replacing the internal mode switch in the transmission first because when I made adjustments to the linkage, it almost went away. If it was the ecm, making an adjustment to the linkage shouldn't change anything (theoreticaly) .
please step in if have a better idea of what this could be or any further steps to diagnose. thank you!
-I have rechecked the battery and it is in good shape. 720cca (checked with a professional rotunda tester)
-no other electrical issues other than the radio sometimes stays on when I leave the car
-linkage adjustment helped
-putting the car back into drive and forcefully putting the trans in park again releases the key
-forgot to add that there are no codes stored when checked with a generic obd2 scanner
please step in if have a better idea of what this could be or any further steps to diagnose. thank you!
-I have rechecked the battery and it is in good shape. 720cca (checked with a professional rotunda tester)
-no other electrical issues other than the radio sometimes stays on when I leave the car
-linkage adjustment helped
-putting the car back into drive and forcefully putting the trans in park again releases the key
-forgot to add that there are no codes stored when checked with a generic obd2 scanner
it could be either the Ignition Lock Cylinder Control Actuator or the Automatic Transmission Shift Lock Control Actuator
here's the operation of this system
Ignition Lock Cylinder Control Actuator
If the vehicle is equipped with a floor mounted console gear shifter, it has a ignition lock cylinder control actuator system in the steering column. The ignition lock cylinder control actuator's purpose is to prevent the ignition key from being turned to the OFF position when the transmission is in gear and the vehicle may still be moving. The column ignition lock system consists of a ignition lock cylinder control actuator , and a park position switch that is located in the A/T shift lock control switch. The ignition lock cylinder control actuator contains a pin that is spring loaded out to mechanically prevent the ignition key cylinder from being turned to the lock position when vehicle transmission is not in the Park position. If vehicle power is lost, and/or the transmission is not in the Park position the operator will not be able to turn the ignition key to the lock position and will not be able to remove the ignition key from the column.
i attached two files that will help you in diagnosing the problem and hopefully solve it
here's the operation of this system
Ignition Lock Cylinder Control Actuator
If the vehicle is equipped with a floor mounted console gear shifter, it has a ignition lock cylinder control actuator system in the steering column. The ignition lock cylinder control actuator's purpose is to prevent the ignition key from being turned to the OFF position when the transmission is in gear and the vehicle may still be moving. The column ignition lock system consists of a ignition lock cylinder control actuator , and a park position switch that is located in the A/T shift lock control switch. The ignition lock cylinder control actuator contains a pin that is spring loaded out to mechanically prevent the ignition key cylinder from being turned to the lock position when vehicle transmission is not in the Park position. If vehicle power is lost, and/or the transmission is not in the Park position the operator will not be able to turn the ignition key to the lock position and will not be able to remove the ignition key from the column.
i attached two files that will help you in diagnosing the problem and hopefully solve it
Awesome thank you for the response! I think I got a bit off track with the internal mode switch. Ran a few tests with the the diagnosis chart but and it wasn't acting up. I put a light bulb on the ignition lock actuator circuit to see if I am getting power at the actuator when it acts up. ill have to drive it and wait for it to fault.
Finally ACTUALLY figured out what is going on with my car. so I found the large metal shaft in the centre of the shifter has started to work its way out of the housing (slid to right). It would have came right out but the centre console wall stopped it. With the extra play in the shifter from the shaft not being attached at both sides, the park detect switch was not getting a full range of motion. I pushed the shaft back in as far as I could with my pinky and drilled a set screw in place so it won't come back out. I want to upload a vid but not sure how to upload a m4v on here
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