Key stuck in ignition

[oakback]

I had my great dane in the back seat and had to make an emergency stop. Luckily I wasn't going more than 30mph, but the poor guy flew into the dash. His eye is swollen, but he seems alright otherwise.

He slammed into the gear shifter, it was in neutral when he got up. It shifted back into drive/reverse/neutral/park just fine after that. But my key won't come out of the ignition. I can start and drive the car fine, and I tried jiggling the shifter in park, but the key is still stuck in place.

Is there an adjustment on the shifter I should check, that maybe got knocked out of place when it was slammed into neutral?

 

[kbfj621989]

sorry to hear about this.

I would try to depress the shift lock override button. But you may need to remove the center console to make sure nothing came loose or moved out of adjustment underneath shifter area.

 

[oakback]

Unfortunately that button didn't change anything.

Some clarification, I realized the key isn't exactly stuck, but rather it can't turn to the final click to "lock", it won't go past "acc".

Edit: disconnecting the battery allows it to be removed. Reconnecting it causes it to be stuck at acc again. I'll do some searching.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Good to know a great Dane fits in a 100. Carry on. Is there any gear position it goes past ACC?

 

[oakback]

From another thread I found, I removed the nut connecting the shift linkage to the selector arm on the transmission. I realigned the neutral on both and tightened, key still stuck in acc when in park and battery connected. I disconnected the linkage completely, and had my helper put the shifter in park, while I moved the selector arm to park, still stuck in acc when battery connected.

Good to know a great Dane fits in a 100. Carry on. Is there any gear position it goes past ACC?

With the battery connected, no.

 

[BUXTER]

for God,s sake if ur lockset is weirding out put in ACC & PULL IT ! - As of course thats the only position u can pull Lockset and LAST thing u want is it jamming in a position u CANT pull Lockset ~!

 

[BUXTER]

NOW to hijack ur Thread but on Topic >>> With bad lockset OUT and gently operating Switch with a pair of needle nose to OFF Power is still on... I had to disconnect battery when bad lockset stuck in ACC - Switch detents are clearly there but I cant turn power off... Is ACC Relay stuck or it did;nt like me disconnecting Battery Pos with it in ACC or _________??

 

[oakback]

When I unplug the shift interlock solenoid, it works fine. So I'll replace this and see if that's all I need.

For future reference, this is located under the center console, on the right side of the shifter, it's a white 5 pin connector.

 

[oakback]

That did not fix the problem. The new solenoid acts the same, the key won't go from ACC the LOCK unless I unplug the solenoid. Any input is appreciated.

 

[TahoeZ]

I'm familiar with this issue in 3rd Gen 4runners. It's the park position sensor. Not sure if it looks the same in the 100 series. It's a small white plastic box with a spring-loaded nipple that is pushed in when you move the gear selector to park and is located just in front of the gear selector on the passenger side. it's two pieces, one that is attached to the lever, and another with the spring that is fixed. They slide into each other and send the signal to the solenoid that the vehicle is in park and allows the key to be turned off and removed.

 

[oakback]

I'm familiar with this issue in 3rd Gen 4runners. It's the park position sensor. Not sure if it looks the same in the 100 series. It's a small white plastic box with a spring-loaded nipple that is pushed in when you move the gear selector to park and is located just in front of the gear selector on the passenger side. it's two pieces, one that is attached to the lever, and another with the spring that is fixed. They slide into each other and send the signal to the solenoid that the vehicle is in park and allows the key to be turned off and removed.

Would this have a different name? While searching online I'm finding the part I already replaced, a neutral safety switch (which I thought was only for manual transmissions), and actual parking sensors.

 

[TahoeZ]

I don’t know the correct part name. Could be a parking sensor. It was located under a steel plate on the front right of the shift lever. I pulled one from a junk yard and replaced it. Same symptoms and unplugging the connector or disconnecting the battery also fixed my issue temporarily.

 

[oakback]

It was located under a steel plate on the front right of the shift lever.

That's exactly where the shift interlock solenoid was located, I think we're talking about the same thing, maybe I'm calling it the wrong part. But it's this (the one pictured is missing the little lever/button that goes up to the hole in the shifter bezel):

 

[kbfj621989]

It does continue to sound like there is an alignment issue with the shifter and the solenoid. The position on the shifter into park does not seem to be registering electronically. I would suggest more extensive disassembly of the shifter mechanism to look for any broken connections or misalignment.

 

[TahoeZ]

That's exactly where the shift interlock solenoid was located, I think we're talking about the same thing, maybe I'm calling it the wrong part. But it's this (the one pictured is missing the little lever/button that goes up to the hole in the shifter bezel):
View attachment 4014627

That looks pretty similar. Unplugging it allows the key to be removed, correct? If so, then the one you replaced it with is not working or not aligned correctly.

 

[oakback]

That looks pretty similar. Unplugging it allows the key to be removed, correct? If so, then the one you replaced it with is not working or not aligned correctly.

Correct, I've left it unplugged and everything is fine.
It mounts on 2 locating pins, so I'm sure this particular part is aligned correctly, and it came from a Toyota dealership as a new part. But as @kbfj621989 mentioned, other stuff might be misaligned. I'll take more apart.

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