my 92 gxe screwed me over this morning, i went a few places like for gas and when i pulled out my key, the little button lock worked fine. when i got to work, the button is now not needing as much force to go in and it will not let my keys out. the steering wheel did not lock up and i drove it around and tried again and no go. i have a spare key on me to get in, but i cant use the touchpad to lock the doors because it does the beeping saying my keys are in the ignition. the biggest problem is now all someone has to do is smash my windows and theres my keys right in the ignition ready to go.

how would i fix this? i wiggled the little button, pulled it, etc and it wont work

 

push the shifter into park or while it's in park move it around a little while you push the button next to the key hole.

 

i'll run out and see if that works, for now i have a Club on the steering wheel incase anyone tries to steal it but here people will still break in and drive straight into something for fun

 

still a no go, the button goes in a bit but it wont go in as far as it used to

 

turn the key back to on and start over. sounds like something is stuck inside it.

if nothing works pop out the ring around the key hole...there's a manual over ride.
check your owner's manual.

 

I have had this happen to me a number of times and its very FRUSTRATING !!! because all you can think about is getting that key out!!!! OR HAVING TO LEAVE THE KEY IN !!!! 9 times out of 10 it was because of what the guy mentioned above ..Some how the gear shift was not all in the way in park. When the gear shift is in the park position it makes contact with something that sends a signal that lets you press that button in to release the key.

When I got this car I wondered why the gearshift looked like this:



When I couldnt get the key out it was because the lil metal bar which guides the shift bar when you shift gears was not making contact with the black contact when I placed it in park.




When you press the button in on your shifter it lets the lil metal bar drop down so that it can move/change gears along a grooved path and when you place it in park the lil bar raises up makes contact with the black thing which sends a signal to release the button on the ignition ......SO you may need to gently WIGGLE/FORCE it into park so that the lil bar makes contact the thing that releases the button .......you might need to take the cover off to see if the lil metal bar is stuck or not going up to make contact.


OR ONCE I couldnt take the car gear out of Reverse and thought my transmission was shot but the lil metal bar that moves along the path to shift was stuck somehow and was fixed with a gentle bop of a hammer so i just left the cover off of my gearshift too .... BUT THE CAR DROVE GREAT!.!.!.!.!


P.S. If your battery goes completely dead with your key in the ignition ..... you guessed it ... a stuck key..... I just put a black sock over my ignition area and slept sound as a baby ........

 

if you pull the trim ring away, there's a little metal rod sticking out that you can push with a pen-tip as an emergency key release. i forget if it releases the key itself, or if it just releases the electronic lock on the button. i had to use it a few times when i had automatic.

 

awesome, i'll look for the emergency release

 

cadaver saved my ****, i never knew that cover did anything. popped it off, pressed a piece of metal inside with red on the end, and now the key freely comes out.

thanks everyone, saved my car from getting robbed tonight