2003 Monte Carlo - key won't turn to off

[92saturnsl2]

I'm helping my dad sell his '03 Monte Carlo, fixing a few things on it, but today I have a brand new problem on my hands.

I hopped in to move it to another location in my driveway, and when I went to shut the car off, the key will only rotate to the ACC position. That leaves accessories on of course, so I have to unplug the battery now.

I tried all the usual tricks-- turning wheel back and forth, moving gear shifter a couple dozen times back and forth, brake pedal switch okay (lights turn on with pedal application), all good there. My immediate thought is something in the shifter that is not telling the vehicle it is in Park (shift interlock I think it's called). An observation that supports this is that when the shifter is in the Park position (the indicator on the dash shoes it's in park) I am able to press the button on the shifter and move to another position without ever applying the brake. I don't think this is supposed to be possible.

Has anyone ever run across this problem before? A quick Google search turned up a few other similar problems, but few people responding with a solution. I think I should be starting with the shift interlock, is this a simple part that can be replaced? If anyone can help me in locating / testing this, it would be most appreciated.

 

[irad]

My daughter's Malibu, shifter between the front seats, had this problem. I had her spray wd-40 into the center console by moving the rubber by the shifter stalk. It worked and she was able to drive home. I then lubed the interlock better and she never had the problem again.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

So I guess GM was too stupid to add a shift lock override button like every Japanese car has

 

[eljefino]

You are onto something.

The flipside of the interlock, as you noted, is that you can get out of park with the key in ACC. In off, you can't, because it might be getting stolen, and in on, you need the brake pedal, b/c of sudden accelleration. That stuff is all electronic.

I think the shifter-in-park-to-release-key gadget is a mechanical cable though. This is a lawyer thing so you don't walk away from a car (keys in hand) that will roll away.

Most ignition cylinders pull pretty easily as long as you can get the key to ACC or ON so I'd fiddle around in there. Might be something you can grind down to override.

 

[Trav]

IIRC these used a solenoid for shift interlock, its not uncommon to find them disabled. The common problem was not being able to shift out of park, the button on the shifter pushes down on the switch to activate it, up near the ignition switch there is a switch ( it can also be part of the switch assy) that receives input from the brake pedal and the ignition switch this sends power to the solenoid.

Ignition switches are a common failure point on these, I don't remember lock cylinders or housings being much of a problem. Remove the switch, if the lock cylinder rotates freely with the key in it you need a new switch if not the lock cylinder or housing has a problem. I haven't done one in years but this is how I recall it.