Strange Car Issue

EtherealDeath

United States8366 Posts

April 23 2009 02:11 GMT

Recently, pulling out the key after turning off engine/park/brake/lights off etc has been an interesting tug of war, in which I have to rotate it around a bit, pull a bit, and then maybe after 20 sec it will come out. It never used to happen, but as of around 2 weeks ago it's been happening every time I turn off the engine. Any idea what's going on here? I drive a 2006 Saturn Ion 2, if that is relevant.

Lemonwalrus

United States5465 Posts

April 23 2009 02:16 GMT

My friends car does something similar. I'm not sure if this is true, but she says that it comes out easiest if the wheels are facing straight forward, so that the steering wheel is not turned at all. Not sure how that works, since I am not entirely aware of the inner workings of the steering column/ignition and how they interact, but maybe that will help.

micronesia

United States24805 Posts

April 23 2009 02:32 GMT

I'm not sure if it's your problem, but what Lemonwalrus said is definitely true.

When I worked my town job at a park, I drove a town truck to McDonald's to get lunch. When I hopped in the truck, I couldn't get the key to turn and I was like 'omg wtf' and was scared as hell because all my bosses etc weren't even at the park that day. I found a pay phone (didn't have a cell) and happened to have a quarter and called the main number. Thank god the only other employee who was there answered because he figured out what it probably was and instructed me to giggle the steering wheel to get it straight. It worked :D

If this isn't your problem (I doubt it's the same problem) then if I were in your shoes I would show it to a mechanic if you have a decent one.

edit: ironically I discovered a car issue yesterday (first time on this car D: ). The car makes a bit of a click/clunk at certain moments so I'm guessing something was left loose after my recent oil change.

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