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key won't turn in the ignition

192K views 28 replies 17 participants last post by  d0ugmac1 
#1 ·
I've had this happen twice now. I put the key into the ignition and try to turn it but it won't budge. I have to sit there for like 10 minutes and basically play with it until it finally decides to unlock. Anyone know what's up w/ that?
 
#5 ·
Ok , you are locking the wheel , its a saftey measure in almost all cars, after the car is turned off, if you move the steering wheel it will lock. If the wheel is locked when you go back to your car , the key will not turn. So all you have to do is tug, or turn the wheel a little while the key is in the ignition and then turn the key, then voooooowala! presto , the car works. That should help.
 
#9 ·
Stillen23 said:
thanx guys. i'll keep this in mind the next time it happens.
You can lock it yourself and see if that's what it was. Just shut off your car and turn your wheel until it kinda locks. At least then you'll know for sure that's what was going with yours.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I have a funny story to tell...

Six days after I got my Black 3.5SE, my wife calls me at the office to tell me that she hit a parked truck with it! I nearly dropped the phone.

She tried to park in an angled spot on the other side of the road, and she hit a truck's wheel, which was in the next spot, with the front right corner of my car. No damage to the truck, but my bumper was pretty scratched up.

Her last accident, another minor one six years ago, also involved a parked car. To say that I was throughly desgusted would be an understatement.

It was only a couple of blocks from my office so I go to inspect the damage, we have some words... I leave.

An hour later I get another call from her, the car won't start, a q and a session follows, the key won't turn. I hop in my truck and go to the body shop where she getting a quote to fix my bumper.

I get in the car and the key won't turn, I naturally give the wheel a wiggle and the key turns fine. In a matter of two secs I'm in, start the car and tell her to wiggle the wheel and leave, which pisses her completely off, because she hates it when I make her look stupid!

Later that night after I cool down, she tells me about the guy who gave her a quote at the body shop that I "rescued" her from.

She said, "Do you know what that asshole at the bodyshop said to me"?
I reply, what?
He said that I shouldn't be driving such a nice car if I'm not a good driver. I do my very best not to burst out laughing, I somehow manage to say oh?.

She then said that she gave him a piece of her mind and told him where he could put his estimate.

When she stormed back out to the car to leave, the car wouldn't start. She then sat in the car, in front of his window for 15 minutes, waiting me to come and start the car for her.

For those of you who are married, I don't have to tell you that it can be trying at times.

Robmac
 
#13 ·
I'm not sure why it's been impossible for car makers to create a 'fix' for this problem...I was behind a brand new 911 at the car wash, and he finished rinsing his car off, got in and I could see him struggling. He finally got out and made a call on his cellphone. (He was calling Porsche roadside assistance). Being a huge 911 fan, I approached to see if I could help. He said he couldn't get the car started - the key wouldn't turn. I got in, wiggled the steering wheel, and started the car right up. How embarassing to buy an $80,000 car and not be able to get it started. He was very red-faced. I shoulda asked him if he wanted some help DRIVING it too. :)
 
#19 ·
Yep, she got the bumper repainted, and it looks like new again.

The shop that she finally took it to has a very good reputation, the owner goes to my wife family's church. They didn't paint the whole thing just the scratched section and then buffed it in, I gotta tell ya that it looks perfect again.

This weekend I'm going to start teaching her how to drive a manual, then she is going to be driving my truck alot more...

What's new? Well, she brought it home a couple of weeks ago with a pretty decent door ding in the right rear door.

I tell you some people need a good beating, (not the wife, the person who hit my car) they cause a couple of hundred dollars in damage to someone elses car in a parking lot and don't feel any responsibilty...

I'm going to take it back out to the body shop and see what they can do for me, it looks like it just might pop right out. I'm going to get them to paint my front grill at the same time. My car is black and I think that the front grill looks a little on the cheap side when it's unpainted, I've seen some other with painted grill and I think that they look pretty sweet.

Oh ya, I laid down some "parking lot" rules for the wife.

TheDesertFox1942 said:
U still let your wife drive that SE RobMac
:confused:
 
#21 ·
Yup I hear ya, i have a Black 02 SE too and i had a scratch on the back bumper too. I was dropping my sister off at school and i must have been backing up going maybe 1/2MPH and this stupid...FILL IN THE BLANKS came zooming behind me, as if its not a College parking lot with speed limits

I get out and see a scratch, not deep but visible, I stop her stupidass before leaving and the college campus police get involved...etc

anyway she would have taken the entire bumper off if i was going any faster. I buff it off and it looked better but not good enough for my eyes, my car was only a few months old, so i get that part repainted and it looked great, until i noticed a visible line where it was painted, so i just took it to a shop that the dealer deals with since they dont have their own body shop and had the entire bumper painted.

Yeah the majority of people dont give a damn about other people's cars, they park next to them open their doors and hit 'em as if nothing happened, thats why i usually park a mile away from the closest car and i dont mind walking, this way i save myself from getting pissed and doing things i dont wanna do.:angry2:
 
#22 ·
Oh yeah, try the Ding Wizard, i went there when i got a ding on the back driver's side door, How did it happen, i have no damn idea, since i never park next to anybody!

any how it took 'em 20mins and the ding was gone as if it never was and charged me $99, all the more reason not to even think about changing my parking methods.
 
#24 ·
I'm not anal about the car, but it's only a few months old and I would like to keep it looking that way for at least a year or so.

I was thinking about going silver but there are alot of silver cars running around these days, so I went black, but it is a real pain to keep clean. I haven't washed my silver truck once this winter and it still looks cleaner than my Alti, 90% of the time. I'm getting really sick of the winters up here.

Once the weather clears up I'm gonna get the windows tinted, I think that it will look pretty nice with the silver window trim.
 
#25 ·
I hear ya, some of the kids around here drive like madmen.

Don't get me wrong, anybody who knows me will tell you that I have a pretty heavy foot. But I would never rip thru someones neighborhood or a parking lot, that's just crazy.

It really pisses me off when they fly up my street (lots of kids running around and a few are mine). I usually point at them once as they are going by and they get the message, if it happens a second time, then they get an immediate visit from me, it's never happen a third time.

I take it that you are a big Rommel fan?

TheDesertFox1942 said:
Yup I hear ya, i have a Black 02 SE too and i had a scratch on the back bumper too. I was dropping my sister off at school and i must have been backing up going maybe 1/2MPH and this stupid...FILL IN THE BLANKS came zooming behind me, as if its not a College parking lot with speed limits
 
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