Got my car back -> key gets stuck in the ignition barrel

ahew · Post by **ahew** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:20 pm

Hey all,

Finally driving my car around now after months spent in the workshop. Anyway, I got it back and some time later that day the key wouldn't come out of the ignition barrel.

The tip box was in PARK and it wasn't moving anywhere (fully engaged) and the key still wouldn't come out. I found that when this happened I could still press the button on the gear selector and move it around when the car was turned off, ie. I could move it to D, N, R, P wherever.

So... I decided to leave it and then checked it out yesterday again. I removed the button on top of the shifter, unscrewed the little white bit inside and all of a sudden I heard a "click" sound and the white bit i was unscrewing popped out a little more. What the... I then turned the key and it managed to come out of the barrel.

Ok.. that was weird! I put everything back together and it was working sweet for the whole day yesterday. I noticed that when I put the shifter in PARK there is a clicking sound that comes from near the brake pedal too. Is there a cable of some kind that connects the two?

Today the car has decided once again to misbehave (bad car! bad!) and i again can't remove the key. This problem looks like it will come and go unless I find the cause. Anybody got any ideas of what can be causing this to happen? Any ideas on how to fix this? It's annoying and dangerous at the same time.

BuCkEt · Post by **BuCkEt** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:54 pm

There are two causes of the stuck key problem.

Problem A: The plastic inside the lock barrel housing has broken and needs to be removed (tis a 10 minute job). This is what caused my problem back when the car was tiptronic.

Problem B: Yes, there is a cable running from the selector to the brake pedal and possibly up to the ignition. This cable is designed for the whole saftey idea of not being able to move the shifter without a foot on the brake or key in the ignition. They are known to come loose and from the sounds of your problem they have done so.

Not sure exactly what you would need to tighten but I imagine it would be at the selector point as opposed to up near the ignition.

There are DIY's with pictures somewhere on the net.

tarkus · Post by **tarkus** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:55 pm

there is a cable linking the bottom of the gear shifter and the ignition key.

If you take off the rubber surround from around the gear shifter and pull off the outer surround from the radio / gear knob you can see it easy.

this cable needs to be oiled a little, somewhere on the help section there is a detailed desciption of what to do.

Tarkus

khunjeng · Post by **khunjeng** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 9:39 am

follow the DIY and remove the roller...then this problem will never happene again...thats what I did.

ahew · Post by **ahew** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:40 am

hey all thanks for that. Followed Ben's advice and it worked. There is a little metal piece that looks like it comes from the front of the whole thing to stop the roller from moving too far out and dislodging itself I guess. Anyway, it's a stupid design as you don't really even need that bit there.

Thanks for the help!