…unless I jerk it out real tough-like. (I’m a wimp, btw.) I squirt some graphite lube into the ignition lock daily but it doesn’t always do the trick. Today’s “Car Talk” had a gal whose transmission cable might need an adjustment; this was to let the ignition switch “know” that it was in Park. Maybe that’s the problem with my '95 Saturn S-series SL2? The problem seems to be getting worse and I’m afraid some mechanic is gonna tell me I need a new ignition switch/lock costing me $300+
Any thoughts? Thanks.
Before you throw a lot of money at this problem, try this first … as you attempt to remove the key from the ignition switch turn the steering wheel slightly to the left or right. Sometimes when the wheels are not in the direct straight ahead position it puts tension on the steering wheel locking mechanism and the key will be difficult or impossible to extract. Good luck!
“Been there; tried that.” Yea that doesn’t do the trick unfortunately. Thanks just the same.
I had the same problem some years back on my 1978 Oldsmobile. The car has a floor shifter for the automatic transmission. On my Oldsmobile,there is a collar that goes around the steering column near the key. I assume it that this was for models with a column shifter. At any rate, I could twist this collar and remove the key. However, an adjustment of the cable from the transmission to the ignition lock took care of the problem on my car. It is a very simple adjustment.