No idea what the hell the deal is... can't turn the key (or the spare either) in the ignition one bit. Yes I've checked the steering lock, it wasn't on initially... I tried moving the steering wheel while working the key... still no luck... finally intentionally locked the wheel, still no luck. I've tried every twist, shake, force, yell and attempt to get the key to turn. But nada.

I'm going to try again in the morning.. and if no go Mitsu is paying for a tow out of my driveway and to the dealer, and a cab for me to get to work.

No idea what could have caused this as I had no problems leaving work, did nothing unusual in any way.. and now stuck!

Wonder if anyone else has ever had this!

Later.

Steve

 

Always turned out to be wheel lock for me. I dunno, but good luck and I hope it never happens again.

 

if the wheel is locked, sometimes you can ape turn the wheel about another 1/2" and it will free it up.

other than that call the dealer, and sometimes they will send out a lock smith before getting it towed, or they will tow it themselves.

 

I did get the vehicle towed under the "emergency roadside assistance" plan that is part of our warranties. Unfortuntately though, I'm without a vehicle now for the second day. They got to look at yesterday, but they didn't update me on what the hell is wrong. He thinks though that the entire switch is bad so they were going to order in a new ignition switch basically. So that should be interesting as I wonder what that means as far as keys and crap as well. So who knows, i just want my darn car back!

Many "ape turns" and so forth were tried as well. This wasn't a wheel lock issue, as the wheel was free when it was jammed at first. I did then lock it so I could beat on it a little more to try and get it to come loose. But no avail. So yeah fix it is the word.

Later.

Steve

 

I'd believe it. The ignition went in my last car (twice, actually), but that was expected in a 14 year old. Not expected in a one-year old, but has taught me to always expect the worst, I suppose...

 

what happened?

 

Ends up that the ignition lock cylinder ended up jammed in the cylinder bore. They had to remove the entire ignition lock and pound the the lock cylinder out. Then they got a new one (which apparently came in from japan and took like 5 days) and I'm all set now. I guess they have not had many failures like this. And certainly not on the Lancer. So I'm just lucky :-).

They did fix my leaky headlight too.. so that is good! I'm on headlight number 3 now for getting water in them. Hopefully the third time is the charm!

But yeah.. car fixed.. but there was nothing I could have done. It was pretty messed up!

Later.

 

kool...........

 

Leaky headlight? Be sure to top if off. You dont' want that failing while driving.

I know it's a bit delayed, but did they give any possible/probable cause for the jamming or was it so unexpected taht they didn't even try?

 

They were pretty well shocked that the part had failed. They hadn't seen anything like it I guess. I took the guy some serious brute force to get that part out I guess. From what they said he had to beat the thing out. Then because the part hasn't ever really failed much to their knowledge it was a part that wasn't stocked, so it had to come in from Japan or something... hence it took 5 days or something to get my part.

I doubt that many/any of you will ever have that kind of jam happen. I think I was just lucky :-)

Off to install kamikaze headers for me! Man I hope I don't freeze to death doing it (it's like 13 degrees out today)

Later!

 

lol good luck.. u should do yourself a favor and find a heated garage or buy one of those torpedo heaters.. they rock

 

Got them in.... temp was 36 degrees in the garage... didn't bother me much at all actually... took me about 3 hours.. 4 hours total with reinstalling my radio and air intake that i had removed a few weeks ago.

Down pipe rattles on the frame though... going to work on trying to fix that later.

a LOT louder than it was before (but still not anywhere near riced out civic)... but feels quicker.. getting a dyno in 3 weeks to see what I actually gained or not...

Anywho...

Steve

 

my key wouldn't turn like twice since i got my car.. i got scared but i just gave it a harder twist and it worked. after reading your post, though, i'm worried that it's gonna just jam up one day and just not work.

 

Always check the steering wheel first and see if it's causing the lock.

 

Yep... 99.9% of the time (me being that other .1%) it is just the steering column lock. Just jiggle the steering wheel back and forth against the lock stops while giving the key a turn and it'll usually come loose.