Pontiac Repair: STUCK IGNITION SWITCH, floor shift, lock cylinder

Question
QUESTION: MY IGNITION SWITCH IS STUCK IN THE ON POSITION ON MY 95 GRAND PRIX. IMMEDIATELY BEFORE IT HAPPENED MY INSTRUMENT PANEL LIGHTS AND RADIO LOST POWER FOR ABOUT 2 MINUTES.I DISCONNECTED THE NEGATIVE BATTERY TERMINAL AND IT CONTINUED RUNNING UNTIL I STEPPED ON THE BRAKE TO SHIFT INTO DRIVE AND IT DIED IMMEDIATELY.I RECONNECT THE BATTERY AND IT STARTS RIGHT UP AGAIN AND MUST REPEAT THE PREVIOUS STEP TO SHUT OFF THE ENGINE AGAIN.

ANSWER: Hi Jim:

is this a column shift or floor shift car? Whn you say key is stuck will the lock cylinder turn but not all the way back to the off position ot is the key stuck in the accy/run position? It amkes a difference as to what the issue may be here.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: IT IS FLOOR SHIFT AND THE LOCK CYLINDER WILL ONLY TURN BETWEEN THE RUN AND START POSITIONS. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.

JIM

Answer
Hi Jim:

I was thinking it was a floor shifter usually this only happens with those. I would say you have either a broken wire going to the floor shifter of the switch in the shifter for the key lock solenoid is bad. There is a swithc in the base of the shifter that controls a solenoid in the steering column that will not allow to to remove the key while the car is in gear. even know it's in park the switch still thinks it's in gear and is not allowing that solenoid to let the key be removed.. Or this is the old school system in this car where it actaully has a second cable on the shfter and the cable is binding up and not allowing the key to be removed. I can't access service info older the n 1998 on the Gm website. It's one or the other when you take the top of the center console off to gain access to the shifter you'll see what I'm talking about. Good luck :)