Ignition Key

[uskeith]

01 Year 74,000 miles -- all of sudden my key will turn the ignition switch, what's up with that?

[CREWZIN]

to the forum.
Sounds like the tumbler has come loose from the steering wheel housing. Never heard of your problem before. You might stop at a locksmith and have him/her take a look at it. Hopefully you won't have to replace it.

[soonercruiser]

Boy! I got a new one for ya!
I've presently got two 2006, low-mileage Cruisers. Get in the soonercruiser yesterday, put the key in, no problem.....but, won't turn at all. Jiggle the switch a little, try again....no luck! Wiggle the steering wheel and try again....no luck?
What's the problem here???
ME!
Use the right Cruiser key, dummy!
(Vert key doesn't fit soonercruiser!)

[CREWZIN]

Originally Posted by soonercruiser

ME!
Use the right Cruiser key, dummy!
(Vert key doesn't fit soonercruiser!)

I'm always grabbing the wife's KIA keys instead of the Cruiser or vise versa and wondering why the fob won't unlock the darn car.

But I think uskeith has an entirely different problem.

[uskeith]

Thanks guys, it turns out to be a tumbler problem as Crewzin has suggested.
I have it going again. I almost bought another key but at $85.00 with programming I figured I would try something else first. I only have 1 PT and one key although it sure felt as if I had the wrong key.

Thanks again,

[Mal]

The key wont turn has happened to my cruiser twice. This wasn't the normal steering wheel lock thing. In both cases (about 3 years apart), I was ultimately able to free the lock. In the second case, I am quite sure what fixed it; in the first I am not sure but think it was the same. I tried all the normal tricks, pushing key, turning wheel, banging the top of the wheel, jiggling the key, jiggling the trannie shift lever, holding pressure up/down/angles/part out...ad-nausium.

In both cases it happened that my wife parked the car on a street with considerable crown and when I got to the car, the steering wheel was not locked. In both cases, I think the fix was to turn the wheel until it locked. I then turned the wheel to both points where the lock prevented it's turning. I noticed a slight click near one side (it happened to be the right) that repeated each time I passed it. If I turned the wheel to one extreme (the right in my case) and reversed it to just slightly passed the click; the key turned. In all other positions, it would not.

It took no additional pressure but was more like opening a safe....the steering wheel just had to be moved just so.

I hope this might help someone in the future.

[uskeith]

The real problem was in the tumblers. I found that the last tumbler in the row was causing the problem. I removed it, put everything back together and have not had any problems since.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by uskeith

The real problem was in the tumblers. I found that the last tumbler in the row was causing the problem. I removed it, put everything back together and have not had any problems since.

I am quite sure these are two separate problems with the same symptoms.