Key won't release in a toyota even in Park

[alcyon]

There is a safety feature in Toyotas with auto trans, you need to shift to P then only you can off the engine and pull out the key. Yesterday morning, I had great difficulty pulling the key out. After a few shifts from other gear positions to P, finally it let go. I drove home in the evening, and this time the key will not come out, even after disconnecting the battery.
Looking at videos on youtube, I have a strong suspicion that a switch is not working, it looks like white colored thin piece that sits on the right side under the shifter which detects the shifter is in P, and releases the solenoid in the key barrel so that the key can be removed.
Anyone here encountered the same problem? What is this switch called ? I tried looking at toyota diagrams but I don't see a clear picture of the part .

 

[jagdriver727]

I once saw a problem similar to this, couldn't get the part overnight so we traced the wire from the shift interlock and cut the signal wire in the column. No more key lockout.

If anybody other than you drives your car, that could be a very poor idea. It was a temporary fix in this case and the owner decided to leave it that way.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Tap it with a rubber mallet it should come out eventually then I would diagnose the problem.

 

[dishdude]

Tap it with a rubber mallet it should come out eventually then I would diagnose the problem.

I've never had to tap my push button start with a mallet.

 

[AutoMechanic]

I've never had to tap my push button start with a mallet.

I know once it gets stuck you are done till you replace the button.

 

[alcyon]

Tap it with a rubber mallet it should come out eventually then I would diagnose the problem.

Its not urgent, not willing to take a risk on such a rare car. I just parked in the house and disconnected the battery. Will tinker on it on Saturday (tomorrow) . Plan to remove the whole shifter assembly and replace all bushings, since there is a lot of slop in the shifter. Will probably be two weekends out of commission, to wait on parts ordered.

 

[AutoMechanic]

That’s how we would always get the keys out at the dealership. But I understand I wasn’t sure what type it was.

 

[gfh77665]

I have had keys stuck before, and got them out by vigorously pulling the steering wheel right and left, and swinging the steering wheel tilt from bottom to top several times. It seems to often work on older cars, and if yours is a 1989 it might solve it.

 

[alcyon]

I have had keys stuck before, and got them out by vigorously pulling the steering wheel right and left, and swinging the steering wheel tilt from bottom to top several times. It seems to often work on older cars, and if yours is a 1989 it might solve it.

This is a different case. Its not stuck because of the key, but because of the safety mechanism. On my previous car which had no safety mechanism, you could actually pull out the key while the engine is on..It was a cheapo Mitsubishi econobox. This method will work on that car , but not on this one, at least without ruining the barrel.

 

[JustinH]

I would rock the steering wheel back and forth, as well as pressing the brake and trying to get it to go into neutral if possible.

 

[alcyon]

I would rock the steering wheel back and forth, as well as pressing the brake and trying to get it to go into neutral if possible.

The transmission works, I can go to any position on the shifter, the car starts fine, drives fine, shifts fine. Just the key won't come out. I tried brakes, shifting back and forth while engine is off, rock steering back and forth yada yada. I will share my experience once and IF I manage to solve this issue.

 

[JimPghPA]

Cutting the wire most likely will NOT work, because removing electric power by disconnecting the battery did not work. So removing electric power by cutting the wire will not do anything different electrically than disconnecting the battery and that did not work.

 

[wwillson]

I've had this happen multiple times in a couple Toyotas I've owned. The problem each time was that the wheels were putting torque on the steering column and the lock. If I would carefully and slowly apply pressure on the steering wheel first one direction, if that direction doesn't work, then try the other direction. It requires very little movement of the wheel and it's easy to over do it. Apply pressure with finesse. It worked every time to get the stuck key out.

I remember one time I helped a guy in a parking lot with the same problem. I described to him what to do, but he was too impatient. He said, "you do it", so I did. He thought I was some kind of magician. I got a chuckle out of that one.

 

[JimPghPA]

If you get it out, you might try using Houdini lock spray. Amazon sells it. Someone here on BITOG recommended it a month or two ago and I got a can and that stuff works great. I do not know what is in it, but it is not supposed to attract dirt, and last a long time. It does have a very faint lemon smell, that is so faint I only smelled it a couple of time after the initial use. It is a little expensive, but the can is large enough that it will last you many years. It is good for all kind of locks. Great stuff. Different sellers on Amazon have it at different prices. There is a wide range of how much some people want for it, so shop some. You may have to add a more expensive sellers Houdini to your cart, before a lower price one show up as additional sellers on the right of the screen. Then select one of the lower priced ones, and then remove the expensive one from your cart.

Amazon.com Shopping Cart

 

[AutoMechanic]

If you get it out, you might try using Houdini lock spray. Amazon sells it. Someone her on BITOG recommended it a month or two ago and I got a can and that stuff works great. I do not know what is in it, but it is not supposed to attract dirt, and last a long time. It does have a very faint lemon smell, that is so faint I only smelled it a couple of time after the initial use. It is a little expensive, but the can is large enough that it will last you many years. It is good for all kind of locks. Great stuff.

Absolutely the stuff is excellent. I do locksmith stuff along with mechanics and that is the best spray ever for locks and ignition stuff.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Does your car have the button by the key barrel?

For those who don't know, some older Toyotas from the late 80s and early 90s made you press a button near the key in order to remove it.

Here is what it looks like:

 

[alcyon]

Does your car have the button by the key barrel?

For those who don't know, some older Toyotas from the late 80s and early 90s made you press a button near the key in order to remove it.

Here is what it looks like:

Yes it does. I pressed that button a thousand times already since I owned the car 3 years ago. Just this week the problem starts.

 

[alcyon]

Ok update today, Saturday. I traced the problem, and it does not seem to be an electrical problem.
I removed two solenoids from outside the barrel housing. One solenoid is metal, and the other is plastic, which i think is some kind of switch to tell the door control module that there is still a key in the ignition when the engine is off, so that you cant lock the doors with the key in. The metal solenoid is the one to lock the key barrel ,to disallow the key to be moved to the lock position and remove the key. Once the transmission is put in park, the switch under the shifter send a signal to the solenoid at the barrel to release, so that a spring loaded lever outside the barrel will release the cam behind the barrel, then by pressing that black button I can turn from ACC to LOCK, which allows me to remove the key.

I removed the metal solenoid on the barrel, yet I still couldnt turn from ACC to LOCK. So I knew this was a mechanical problem, not electrical, as with battery disconnected, I could easily push the solenoid plunger with no effort at all. At first thought it must be the barrel tumblers jammed up. So I removed the whole lock cylinder from the steering column, by keeping the key in ACC and pressing in a slide pin above it, pulled it out easy.
Turned the key from ACC to LOCK, and it just turned with no problems. Pulled out the key, VOILA.
Since the cylinder is out, I gave the slot a good spray of SUPER LUBE dry lubricant.

I took a close look at the outer housing that holds the lock cylinder, and I conclude the problem can only come from the spring release lever mechanism. The spring is 32 years old, but when installed correctly, it feels more than strong enough to push the lever to release the cam, so that I could turn the key from ACC to LOCK. So what happened? Why did it jam up?
There can only be 1 cause :, the spring must came off from a small protrusion which acts as a guide on the lever. If this ball pen sized spring slipped off this guide, it basically has no force to push this lever to release the cam behind the cylinder, so the cylinder will stay stuck in ACC, and will only allow movement from ACC ,ON and START.
I proceed to grease up the hinge point on this lever with SUPER LUBE with syncolon, but wipe dry the area where the spring sits, I want the spring to not slip off the guide.
I put everything back together, with battery still disconnected, the key can now be turned to LOCK, and removed by pressing the release button.
I decide to take apart the shifter and clean and relube the switch for the PARK signal, and also change the bushings on the shifter since there is so much slop in the shifter. I will be putting everything back on the car tomorrow. Hopefully the problem is solved.
I will be making a video on what I did and will post it the coming week, if the fix is sucessful.

 

[alcyon]

This is the video I made at first. Indeed my diagnosis was correct, that somehow the spring came off the lever's spring guide. But there was an additional prime cause that I completely missed, I only noticed what cause the lever to jam up causing the spring to slip off.
Forgive my bloody Malaysian accent.
here is the long video



While editing the video, I saw something that I completely missed while I was at the car. There was a piece of plastic debris on the bottom of the inside of the lock cylinder housing. I feel so stupid that I didn't noticed that debris. But then again, with the steering wheel is in the way, I couldn't have seen it anyway. My phone video camera captured it perfectly. I can see that the debris is part of a broken black release button on the right side !

So after I thought everything was done, I had to re open the steering column cover, remove the plastic key switch , light trim, and pull out the lock cylinder. Took a pair of tweezers and brought out the broken plastic piece(you can see clearly in the below video still preview). Sure enough the piece perfectly fit on the broken section of the button. Proceed to UV superglue the button, let it set for 20 mins, grease the button and reassemble everything back. On the bright side, at least I got rid of the shifter slop and made sure the Park Switch on the shifter was moving smoothly.
Here is the follow up video.

 

[Olgad]

I just posted a similar problem, i got a spare key made for my car but it gets stuck in tbe ignition everytime i try it.. my old key works like a dream. Any thoughts?