'85 automatic won't release key from ignition
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 22,142
Likes: 76
From: North East
'85 automatic won't release key from ignition
Car was in storage for a few years. Put the key in the ignition. Now it won't come out. Twisted the wheel hard either direction.. run the auto trans selector back and forth and forcibly try to put it into park (it seemingly does go into "park) and no dice. The switch will not that extra smidge ot release the key. What gives?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 829
Likes: 192
Car was in storage for a few years. Put the key in the ignition. Now it won't come out. Twisted the wheel hard either direction.. run the auto trans selector back and forth and forcibly try to put it into park (it seemingly does go into "park) and no dice. The switch will not that extra smidge ot release the key. What gives?
Spray some WD40 down into the cylinder along side of the key and let it soak for a while. Maybe the tumbles are gummed up and holding the key. That, or get underneath and make sure the linkage is throwing the trans detent lever all the way into park position.
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 15,926
Likes: 579
Car was in storage for a few years. Put the key in the ignition. Now it won't come out. Twisted the wheel hard either direction.. run the auto trans selector back and forth and forcibly try to put it into park (it seemingly does go into "park) and no dice. The switch will not that extra smidge ot release the key. What gives?
Drifting
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,543
Likes: 1
From: Levittown NY
I don't know what year VATS started. 85 may pre-date it but if you have a pellet in the key do NOT start spraying anything down where the key is. The car measures the resistance of the pellet before it will let it start. Oil is going to mess with the reading and you'll add a second problem.
I had a Malibu that did this and it was the shifter at fault. Although the indicator showed it was in park, and the transmission behaved as though it was in park, something was sticking. When it did this the button had no resistance behind it. Jiggling the shifter would cause the shaft behind the button to lift and when the button felt normal and the key could be removed.
I had a Malibu that did this and it was the shifter at fault. Although the indicator showed it was in park, and the transmission behaved as though it was in park, something was sticking. When it did this the button had no resistance behind it. Jiggling the shifter would cause the shaft behind the button to lift and when the button felt normal and the key could be removed.
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Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 22,142
Likes: 76
From: North East
Nothing was releasing the key. The center console had to be lifted from around the shifter.
The fix?
There is a release cable that connects from the shifter and goes to the steering column. This cable was seized up. It took quite a bit of WD40 and penetrating oil to loosen this up.
All good now!
The fix?
There is a release cable that connects from the shifter and goes to the steering column. This cable was seized up. It took quite a bit of WD40 and penetrating oil to loosen this up.
All good now!
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 15,926
Likes: 579
Nothing was releasing the key. The center console had to be lifted from around the shifter.
The fix?
There is a release cable that connects from the shifter and goes to the steering column. This cable was seized up. It took quite a bit of WD40 and penetrating oil to loosen this up.
All good now!
The fix?
There is a release cable that connects from the shifter and goes to the steering column. This cable was seized up. It took quite a bit of WD40 and penetrating oil to loosen this up.
All good now!