10 December 2007

"Saturn car key won't go into ignition" revisited

I have a Saturn wagon. Last summer I talked about a problem where it wouldn't let me put the key into the ignition, and how I solved it at the time. An additional followup to that: after a while I discovered that I could get the key into the ignition if I just banged on the steering column from underneath. That was much less tiring than the wrestling I was doing.

Nowadays I'm not having that problem anymore - it magically vanished after I had a bunch of unrelated problems fixed at a place other than the Saturn dealership. (Incidentally, to follow up what happened there - the epilepsy was due to a jammed door lock switch. They replaced both, everything is working great now.) Did the ignition problem vanish because they found and fixed it too? Or is it just due to a change in the weather from summer super-muggy hot to late fall "reasonable"? I don't know.

Why am I writing this post? Because someone googled on "Saturn car key won't go into ignition" and only found my post about Saturn customer service. I thought I'd be helpful and link in every part of the whole saga. :) For the executive summary: try banging on it from underneath.

10 comments:

Megadeus said...

That's awesome.

Shawn Powers said...

Sadly, 99.999% of the incoming hits to my website are for:

star trek subspace signal ringtone

Yep. My claim to fame. Sad, no?

MWT said...

Really? Do you have such a ringtone on your website? I shall have to google!

The most popular page over here in the past month or so has been my pylon bunny. Apparently it's making quite the rounds among gamers in Europe. :)

Jim Wright said...

The most popular page on mine is the Pearl Harbor one I did the other day, that passed the previous high scorer in something like 12 hours. The most popular search? Laura San Giacomo Nude. WTF? I mentioned her once, long long ago and it had nothing to do with nude. She's a popular girl, she is.

At least you're getting hits on something you actually have, i.e. the bunny.

MWT said...

I tried to digg that Pearl Harbor one, but then found out I'd have to make yet another account at yet another place. Oh well, hopefully someone who already has one will do it. :)

The most amusing search I've seen thus far was someone looking for a cheat code to Bloons Tower Defense.

And now that you've mentioned Laura San Giacomo here, I'll probably get hits on that too. o.O

Anne C. said...

My google hits are primarily for the "I'm Tired" song from Blazing Saddles. I posted it once (because I love that song) and have been providing a public service ever since. The most interesting one I get is "spaceship schematics" because I posted about having them in preparation for a NaNoWriMo. Fortunately, I did not post my hard earned schematics. (I do have the schematic drawings for Serenity that someone posted. Very cool!)

Anonymous said...

This is a different but similar problem with Saturns. My 04 Ion would let me insert the key, but not physically turn it. It was an occasional problem that progressively had gotten worse until I was straned out of town over the weekend. Saturns will chew up the key and I was informed that I would need to have a new key made (from the dealer code) about every 6 months.

Anonymous said...

I am having the same problem as anonymous above.. key goes in ignition but will not turn at all.. and steering is locked.. my car is stranded in driveway what can I do? cheeseflower@live.com please email me anyone if you have answer. .thx

Anonymous said...

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-fix-a-stuck-ignition-149366/view/

found it!! saved me hundreds in locksmith, tow, shop repairs.. unbelievable!!

brookincita said...

Thanks. I had the same problem where the key would not go into the ignition, and banging underneath the ignition/steering column worked for me.