since 2 days ago my key has been stuck in the ignition in the 'on' position and wont come out. I can turn on the car with on with no problem but when i turn it off, i just cant remove the key. I had to disconnect the battery so it wont drain. I've nudged/straightened out the steereing wheel various times hoping this will work, but it wont give. Telescoping works fine oddly enough.
Anyone else had this problem? What did you do..

my car is bate sitting overnight with keys in the ignition..

 

...i know when its in gear you can't remove the key..surely its in park since it starts..but maybe try taking it out of park and putting it back in?? probably not the best idea but first thing that comes to mind..

 

i replaced the spring in the shifter. problem solved.

 

glad you got it fixed.. figured it had to be something along those lines however i probably wouldn't of realized it was a spring..

 

Im having the same issue. Where did you get the spring?

 

I'm having the same problem, my car is a sc400 & it wont release the key when I turn off the car. What spring did you have to change to get it working again?
The key is stuck in the first position BTW.

 

same problem here.... what spring was it?

 

I had same problem. I sprayed some WD 40 into the key slot and it came loose. Slow down inserting and taking out the key as the key system is older . This has worked for me . IHTH Mark

 

just encountered this same problem after yanking out my dash. what spring did u swap out MIGS? this is annoying, only way to take out my key is to pull the battery

 

Encountered the same issue a few months back now, I ended up having to press the shift lock release (battery was dead) and hold it down in park to let the key out.

 

I have the same problem.. I disconnect negative terminal and then I am able to take the key out... so then I reconnect the battery and I don't have to leave keys in ignition when I go places...

 

Well, it happened to me today. Thank God for this forum. Couldn't get the key out of my SC430. Did the nudging to the left while in Park and that did the trick. Noticed there was a wad of gum wrapper stopping the shifter from going to the left while in Park. Stupid kids!

 

I like how this "MIGS" dude posts a problem, then claims to have solved it by replacing some unknown spring, then a bunch of people ask about it and he never responds. Swell person he was...


Anyway, with my mild rant over, I'm having the same issue in my '01 LS430. I have to turn the car back on, then back off again. After the first or second time, I releases the key. It's done it only a few random times here lately, but it's annoying and I don't want it to get worse.

Has anyway come up with a solid fix for this yet?... 9 years later?

 

Hi all I'm also having this problem. Stuck in P. It started when I removed the shifter assembly to clean it out. Car starts o.k but key only be release with battery off. There is a shift lock lever spring which I think I put in wrong way but I've tried different ways still nothing. Recommend fused to check for this there all o.k. I haven't checked the brake switch yet any help be appreciated.

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Mine did the same thing too. But some how I went to grab the charger for my phone and it was stuck in the shifter when it was in park. I think my key didn’t had came out because my car wasn’t in park. Try seeing if there’s something stuck in between where the shifter for park.