Help! My daughter's 1995 Geo Prizm is sitting disabled in a tanning salon parking lot. The key won't turn out of the lock position. Turning the wheel does not help. The shift lever is solidly in park. It won't turn. I bought a new lock cylinder, but I can't take the old one out unless it is in the acc position. I am 180 miles from home and her wedding is Saturday. Help!
Did she remember to put her foot on the brake, (Push the clutch in if it's a manual)while attempting to turn the key? Remove the key, wiggle the wheel, try again...Probably not much help, sorry.
She tried those. Her fiance tried those. I tried those.
I've looked at a couple of Toyota sites. This appears to be a common problem. It looks like I have to find a cordless drill and drill out the lock cylinder.
Is the steering wheel turned all the way either direction? If so you may need to turn the wheel with force to get the key to turn.
I had to help my sister with this same issue in her Blazer.
In my sisters case, The wheels were turned hard to the right when the vehicle was shut down. The column got locked when it shut down. I had to be pretty firm with turning the wheel to the right in order for the key to turn.
If it uses a "yoke" setup like Ford uses on some older Mustangs and late 70's, early 80's pickups. The key turns a pinion that moves a rack, which drives a yoke which pushes a shaft that activates the ignition switch down the column. The one's I've hassled with are on tilt wheels. It's a BITCH to fix, you have to tear the column apart. When the yoke breaks or cracks, it locks up the ignition.
Last one I did was on my late father-in-law's 79 F-150. Sucker broke in 20F weather.
Gary said, "Is it just me or are you ALWAY's over 150 miles away from a loved one that needs car help?????"
Yes, I am. That is a product of having had four kids in college over the last nine years, all driving junk cars. The one I am helping today gets married tomorrow and graduates in May. I will just have one let in college then. The last one is going to study at a university in Spain in June. She is on her own for car troubles then.
I woke up at 4:30 this morning with the realization of how to get the lock cylinder out. There was a little pin hta held it in. The pin could only be pushed out of the way with the key in the accessory position. Being unable to turn the key, I started trying to drill out the lock cylinder so I could turn it. It was very hard and not at all interested in being drilled. I woke up realizing that the retaining pin is much smaller and should drill out easier than the lock. I picked up a hardened 5/32 bit at Ace and after a couple of minutes the old lock cylinder was out and the new one was in. It fired up and worked just fine. Thanks for the help guys.
