Key Stuck in Ignition, Car will run but key will not come out.

[nicoleje]

I have a 2001 Pathfinder and tonight my key got stuck in the ignition. I had been driving for a few hours running errands with no problems. When I was headed home, a truck tried to move into my lane with no signal and i swerved a little and my ikea box slid down and hit my gear shifter and moved it to neutral while i was going 60 on the freeway, and i couldn't stop my car to put it back in drive so I just put it in drive while I was moving. I pulled into a parking lot and now I can shift gears without pressing in the button on the top left of the shifter, so I am assuming that the car won't stick in park and the key is stuck. I used my keyless entry to lock the car but the key is still in the ignition. I don't know if the shifter is an issue, but thought I would include all of the facts. I tried moving the wheel and jiggling it, and I have had 3 friends try to get it out. PLEASE HELP! I really do not want to have to spend hundreds of dollars to have people look at this, and tomorrow is sunday so nothing will be open. I have AAA, but I feel like they could get the key out, but then it may get stuck again. Please help!!!!

[mlaroya]

This use to happen to my acura not the same way it happened to you but the keyy got stuck in the ignition too. I just sprayed some WD40 in it and a bunch of dirt looking stuff came out and jiggled the key around and it came out. Hey it's worth a try

[Adnan]

oh man i feel your pain...i did the same thing this summer in my windstari have absolutly not idea how it happened but i spent few weeks drivingwith a flathead to get around...i tried to remove it myself by removing the plastic steering wheel covers and pulling out the ignition but springs and little pieces of lead came flying out and i didnt know how to place it back.A couple of days ago i went to the junkyard and had to remove it myself...

this time i carefully pulled it out YES i did pop out springs and the internals but i didnt lose anythng this time and i knew excatly where they belong....It wasn't that difficult of a job but requires tons of patience and cool-hot packs for your back...good luck!

[SixGuns]

I'd think the issue isn't with the shifter....I can shut off my truck and pull the key out regardless of what gear I'm in....Unless there's seriously something wrong with mine....I'd suggest the WD-40, or powdered graphite (any Ace hardware or the such....like 80 cents) and try to get it out...you don't have to be rough with it, just jiggle it back and forth (not in and out)....and by that, I mean wiggle the key in axis with the width of the key (the sides that have the bumps and valleys) to engage the pins inside the mechanism. I had that happen with my old Eclipse, only in reverse....it didn't want to let the key start the car, but once it was, I could pull the key out with the car still running (handy if you need to run back in the house and you locked the door!)....started using my spare 'cause the edges were rounded all to hell....good luck.

[Empty V]

This happened a few months ago to my mom's 1993 2500 Suburban. I'm still not sure why she won't get a new car, this one has over 300,000 miles on it. Anyways, we had to replace the tumbler on it, didn't try any type of lubrication though.

[Adnan]

i would try to remove the black plastic underneath your steering wheeland once you get around the ignition cylinder look for a placewhere you could poke in...this should allow your ignition to slide rightout

[rhd itr]

ikea? niice

[Chuck Tribolet]

One outside possibility is some interlock that won't give you back the key unless the tranmission is in the right gear. My 'vette has this. My '01 PF witha manual transmission does not, and I don't see any evidence of it in thefactory service manual.

You do NOT want to put oil (WD40) in a lock. It will eventually attract enoughdust and dirt to gum things up. You won't get powdered graphite anywhereinteresting with the key in. The answer is graphite in a liquid suspensoin fromyour local hardware store (I think mine came from ACE). Remove the bottomplastic bezel under the steering wheel, put a bunch of paper towels underneath,If you have a really cherry ride, put an old beach towel on the carpet, thisstuff goes everywhere. Then squirt some in along the key and jiggle the key.The liquid solvent will eventually evaporate, leaving just the good graphite.

If that doesn't fix it, it's likely the cylinder is busted, and you'll need a newone. Dunno if Nissan can supply one matched to your current keys, butthat would be a good thing, the keys are pricey. Or maybe you can get agood locksmith to rekey the replacement to match your keys.

Chuck