Pontiac Repair: key locking cylinder., pontiac sunfire, key stuck in ignition

Question
i have a 02' pontiac sunfire dohc eco-tec engine. i can't remove the old cylinder to replace with the new one. my mom got key stuck in ignition and i pulled it out. now i can't turn it forward...been told that the tumblers may be screwed up from pulling the key out that way. how do i remove the cylinder ?

Answer
Hey Javier.
Yes that happens from time to time either the tumblers stick or the cylinder was replaced once before and the retainer that holds in the tumblers wasn't staked over right and it's jammed inside the lock housing. In order to do this first get a new cylinder and get it coded to your key. second you have to take the upper and lower housings off the steering column. on the new cylinder you will see a pin and a piece of spring steel that holds that in place. hold it up to the cylinder that's in the car. in order to get that cylinder out you have to drill the plastic housing out where that piece of spring steel is in the old cylinder. use a small bit maybe 1/4" once you get through the plastic if you lucky the bit will catch that piece of spring steel and then the retaining pin will fall out of the old cylinder. if it doesn't you will need to put a pick into that hole you drilled and break off the spring until the tab comes out once that tab comes out the cylinder will pull straight out of the column housing. It's really complex and if you are not comfortable doing it then I would suggest you get it towed to a dealer to get it fixed correctly. It's really easy if you do them all the time and know exactly where and how to get that retaining pin out. When this is all done you will have to relearn the cars theft deterant systems which is a whole mother procedure.. So to sum up it can be done but it's better to let the professionals do it. If it were that easy to do then the cars would be stolen much easier so they don't make it easy to get them out.....