Baby I can't drive my car

January 29, 2024 1:41 PM

I have a 2005 Kia Rio with 150K miles. I'm experiencing an intermittent problem with the key not turning in the ignition. I'm in the US.

I used to get this problem maybe once every month or two, but it's occurring more frequently now. Sometimes when I go to start the car, the key won't turn in the ignition. I mean, it won't turn at all. It sometimes takes a few minutes of repeatedly inserting and withdrawing the key, flipping it around, banging on the steering column, turning the wheel to-and-fro, etc. before the key will turn.

I called a business that specializes in re-keying cars. I spoke with the owner who indicated that it's probably caused by a worn key. But the last time I experienced the problem, I tried my main key and two spares, and none of them worked – at least, not until I fiddled with them for about ten minutes.

Also, maybe a coincidence, but the last two times I had this problem the car was parked on a hill.

I can get the ignition lock replaced, but is there a chance that the problem lies elsewhere?

posted by akk2014 to Grab Bag (18 answers total)

Is it possible that your steering wheel is in an odd position which prevents the key from turning? I've certainly had that happen many times, and "on a hill" seems like a good indicator.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:45 PM on January 29 [11 favorites]

Response by poster: Moving the steering wheel doesn't seem to do anything. In fact, it's never clear to me what finally causes the key to turn. It just suddenly decides that it'll work again.
posted by akk2014 at 1:52 PM on January 29

So if it's not a steering lock, when I've had problems like this in the past it's because the lock itself had some sort of sticking going on internally. My solution has always been to squirt a ton of graphite into it. Modern lubricants may have a better option, but be careful because in locks you never want to use a lube that'll make things stick more, and graphite is really good on that front.

But my solution would be go buy a tube of graphite, squeeze a bit of that into the lock through the key slot, work the lock, and see if that makes things better.
posted by straw at 2:05 PM on January 29 [2 favorites]

Do you have a lot of stuff on your keyring? A lot of other keys, charms, doodads, stuff that adds weight? That can cause excessive wear on the ignition keylock; it's not that the key is worn, it's that the locking mechanism that accepts the key is worn. When that's the case, any of your keys that you try will likely have issues. When your key is inserted, is it nice and tight, or is there a lot of play in it?

Does your car have an interlock that normally requires the brake pedal to be pressed before allowing the key to be turned from the OFF position? That interlock may be binding or electrically failing.

Edit: Forgot to mention, could be a transmission interlock as well. A lot of cars require the transmission to be in Park (or sometimes Neutral) for the key to be turned from OFF. It may be that bumping the transmission shift lever, or if your car will allow, putting your foot on the brake and taking it out of and back into Park, and then retrying, might be the trick (and point to the likely culprit.) Same goes for a manual transmission and holding the clutch pedal in to start.
posted by xedrik at 2:07 PM on January 29

Response by poster: I've successfully used graphite spray on door locks, but I was worried that it would short-out something in the ignition mechanism (because graphite conducts electricity).
posted by akk2014 at 2:09 PM on January 29

Automotive ignition keylocks are usually assembled from two halves, the front/outer key-accepting half, which is mechanically linked to the rear/inner electrical half. Cheaper to manufacture, easier to replace the half that needs replacing, and the electronic bits are pretty well isolated from the keylock. Should be fine.
posted by xedrik at 2:12 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

I'd use a silicon or PFTE based lubricant in an ignition.

Faulty interlock is a good thought.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:27 PM on January 29

With that many miles, it might be the ignition lock. Had to do that with an old car that was probably over 180K miles. After that, I switched to a keychain for the car with 3 keys and a hook on it so as not to weigh down the new (expensive) lock.
posted by luckynerd at 3:06 PM on January 29

Are the teeth on your car key so worn down after many uses that it intermittently can't move the tumblers like it needs to to unlock the car? Do you have a spare/less-used key to test with?
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:37 PM on January 29

It really does sound like the steering column lock problem I had with my old Subaru. I could never tell what made the key finally turn either! But once someone told me to make sure my wheels were as straight as I could reasonably make them when I parked, and not rotated all the way around or anything, I never had the problem again. (Obviously you still need to angle your front tires for parking on inclines.)

Besides that I've also been told:
- After you stop to park, while your brakes are still on, put on the emergency brake and then engage park (instead of engaging park and then putting on the emergency brake)
- Don't haul or push hard on the steering wheel to get yourself in and out of the car

Ymmv, but maybe worth a try
posted by wintersweet at 4:06 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

I had an issue like this in a Subaru. In my case, there was an interlock switch on the shifter that prevented the ignition switch from being turned unless the car was in Park or Neutral. The interlock switch had gone bad. Before I fixed it I could sometimes get the ignition switch to turn by jiggling the shifter.
posted by zombiedance at 7:35 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

I think this is almost certainly the ignition lock itself wearing out. Not the ignition switch (don't let anyone try and sell you one) but the actual lock the key goes into. This is exactly the symptoms you get before, on a random day, the key will no longer turn the lock ever again and you're stuck. You're even more stuck if, as often happens, that also makes the ignition key stuck in the lock because then it's much harder to change the lock. By far the easiest time to replace an ignition lock is while you can still turn the lock with the key - they're built like that to stop people wrenching the ignition lock out to steal the car.

Try putting some silicon spray down the keyhole and you may get some relief at least for a while. Graphite would be OK if that's what you have, because there's no electricity in the lock itself. Don't use WD-40 because it attracts and retains dirt and dust.
posted by dg at 10:21 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

Forgot to mention, could be a transmission interlock as well

My first thought was transmission interlock. Is it an automatic and, if so, do you use your parking brake? Not using the parking brake and just leaving the car in Park can wear down that interlock and produce the behavior you're seeing. It can also make it difficult to *remove* the key from the ignition after driving - is that something you've experienced, too?
posted by hanov3r at 9:58 AM on January 30

Response by poster: A few things: Not that it really matters, but I realized that the car is actually 2008 (not 2005). It's an automatic. I don't think I've ever used the parking brake in my life. I've never had trouble either inserting or removing the key from the ignition – the problem has been turning the key after it's inserted. I have about ten keys on my keychain, so it's moderately heavy. The car does not require me to press the brake pedal before turning the key to the "off" position. Fiddling with the transmission lever doesn't seem to do anything when I'm trying to get the key to turn. As I said above, there isn't any rhyme or reason to the resolution – the key simply turns when it feels like turning, and that's it.

I'm going to the store today to buy some WD-40 Specialist Dry Lube with PTFE. If lubricating the ignition lock doesn't fix the problem, I guess I'll have it replaced.

Thanks for everyone's help. I'll report back in a few days.
posted by akk2014 at 10:11 AM on January 30 [1 favorite]

Last ditch solution, disassemble the ignition lock , remove the tumblers inside, reassemble,. any key now turns the ignition.
posted by hortense at 4:17 PM on January 30 [1 favorite]

As I said above, there isn't any rhyme or reason to the resolution – the key simply turns when it feels like turning, and that's it.

This does sound like it could be a worn lock not engaging the key, especially if you're on copies of copies of the original key. I've had that problem, after the factory key broke off its fob (to be removed from the ignition with pliers) and worse copies eventually wore out the keyway or pins. I could get factory blanks, but the only intact key to cut them with was already a hardware store copy itself.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:07 PM on January 30

Response by poster: Update: Lubricating the ignition lock didn't seem to solve the problem. Or, at least, I don't think it did. After I squirted some WD-40 Dry Lube into the ignition, I had a couple of instances of mild snags with turning the key. Now, these instances were quite a bit less severe than other times when I've had to fiddle with the key for five minutes before it would turn. However, because I'm slightly concerned about getting stuck somewhere far from home, I chose to have a mobile locksmith service come to my house and look at the ignition lock. The mechanic told me that my usual key looks worn, and I should start using one of the spares instead. He also said that the Kia dealership can cut a new key based on my car's VIN number. Also, he removed the ignition lock and replaced the springs in it and possibly made some other adjustments (I can't remember what he said exactly). The whole thing only cost me $60.

It's only been a few days, but I haven't had any trouble at all since the mobile service worked on it. Now, granted, the problem has been decidedly intermittent in the past, so I wouldn't say that I'm entirely out of the woods. If the problem continues, I'll try getting a brand new key from the Kia dealer. If it still continues, the mobile locksmith service can return and entirely replace the ignition lock.

Thanks for everyone's help.
posted by akk2014 at 7:12 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Just a final update. The mobile locksmith service solved the problem. I haven't had any issues with the ignition lock since they came out to service it.
posted by akk2014 at 6:30 PM on April 28 [2 favorites]