logirock

My grandfather was driving my 92 rs home from the shop when it began to overheat. Pulled it over, put a bunch of new coolant in it, didn't really think twice about it since the car hasn't been driven in a couple of years and the radiator hasn't been serviced since long before then. Went to start it, nothing. Went to take the key out of the ignition, and it is now stuck between "start" and "run". I've seen this thread for a lot of autos and it's normally the park switch thing, but this is a manual. Is there something I don't know about, or do I just need to install a new ignition switch and go from there? I've tried lubricants, that doesn't help.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Push the button next to the key before you try to turn it back to lock.

Lakerman62

iTrader: (3)

One time I had similar situation, and ended up removing trim over shifter as wiring bunched up causing shifter not to fully go into park.once in park, I could get my jey out of ignition, FWIW, mine is an auto though

logirock

The button doesn't even move now, I think because the the key won't move far enough back to let it.

Go Blue

Sometimes the steering wheel can apply pressure on the ignition lock and cause this. Try moving the steering wheel 1 way or the other to see if it will let the key release. I don't think the key not coming out has anything to do with what gear the trans is in since it's a manual trans. There must be some kind of pressure either on that switch by the key or on the ignition lock itself the way it's sitting now.

zed-028

i had to pull the barrel and replace it when mine did this... was not a fun job however wasnt that difficult.

logirock

I pulled the ignition barrel and the problem is there. If anyone has any instructions on how to get these things apart that'd be great.

logirock

Solution: Bought a new ignition switch, installed it, and the car runs again. For anyone doing this themselves it isn't an easy job, probably took me 6-7 hours in total. If you have VATS and don't want to have the special key made, test the resistance on your old key, buy or find a resistor that matches the resistance of the key (mine came from an old cassette player), cut the connector and some wire from the old ignition switch, and solder the resistor to that. This way if you ever decide you want to have the special key made and make use of the VATS system again, you can simply pull out your homemade bypass and plug in the wire to the ignition switch.