My wife got home today and couldn't get the key out of the ignition of our 1991 Firebird. I had a shot at it but was afraid of breaking something and making the situation worse.

The problem is that I can't get the key to click back into the lock position. Normally you push in on the key, turn back towards you till the key lines up to the "Lock >" position and remove but now I can't turn the key won't turn far enough to click into the lock position. Any ideas?

 

Did you try turning the wheel back and forth while turning the key back? I would also try turning the key forward to "Run" then back again. The only other thing that comes to mind is the shift lever not being fully in the "Park" position. Try taking it out of Park and putting it back, or putting it in Neutral. I'm not 100% sure about our cars, but I know newer cars are set up to lock the key in the ignition when the transmission is not in Park or Neutral to prevent the key from being removed while the car is in gear.

This happened to a friend of mine in his 89 Firebird. He had to get the whole lock cylinder replaced, hope you have better luck!

 

Sometimes it just takes someone to explain to you the obvious. Turns out my wife left the car in gear.....


Thanks 92RS, you just made my night, haha.

 

You better be thankful it didn't go rolling away.

 

i did that once wait no i didnt but glad it was an easy fix wait no fix oh well you know what i mean no money spent there you go lol

 

You're welcome! My wife had a Dodge Neon a couple years ago that the shifter wasn't adjusted right and you had to really push it to get it into Park far enough to be able to get the key out. Sounded just like your problem, so I figured that was probably the issue.