My key is stuck in the ignition in the 2nd position (radio still on). The car is in park and while I can turn the car all the way on, I cannot shift the car out of park or get the key to turn to the "full off" position so I can get it out. This happened once before a few weeks ago and after a lot of pushing, pulling and cursing the key magically came out and I was hoping it would not happen again. No such luck. I did a little research and it seems that *maybe* the key interlock switch/solenoid is bad. What is the name of the part that needs to be replaced if that is what's wrong with the car? Could this be caused by anything else?

 

I managed to get the key out...not really sure why it decided to eventually come out since I did not do anything different than what I had tried previously.

Anyway, I want to get to the bottom of this and repair whatever needs to be repaired so this does not keep happening. The car has 230K miles on it. I found the name of the part I was looking for...an Ignition Switch w/ Lock Cylinder. I just want to make sure it might not be something else before I shell out the money for the part. Is there anything else I should consider? Is there some way to troubleshoot this to be sure I am replacing the right part?

 

I assume you tried moving the steering wheel back and forth. That will lock up the key sometimes.

 

I did. That did not help. I tried using a new key and that did not help...it also got stuck later last night, so I know it's not a worn key issue. Before bed, I sprayed some WD40 in there and it's still sticking a bit; but, that seems to have bought me some time, so I'm pretty sure it is the Ignition Lock Cylinder that needs to be replaced. I ordered the part today and have a friend who can install it for me. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping I can get the car to him before the key gets stuck again. I'll post the results in a few days. Hopefully this fixes the problem.