QuestionHi Mr. Gan, Thank you for your help first off. So my question has to do with my 1992 Toyota Camry LE 2.2 4 cyl sedan. A few days ago on a random morning, my key got stuck in the ignition. The car would turn on and off put i could not move the key into the LOCK position to take it out plus my steering wheel would not click & lock into place. So i brought the car to the family mechanic and after a few hours, he tells me that he figured out that it wasn't the lock cylinder or the ignition switch but that a part in the steering column needed to be replaced because that was the reason why the key got stuck and the steering wheel wouldn't lock. The mechanic said that the part wasn't available on its own that it required buying a whole piece/assembly or something like that. I was wondering what is the name of the part, is it true that i cant just but that one little piece, and if so what is the name of the entire part & how much does it run? And would a replacement steering column remedy this problem?
Answer
www.stolenandrecovered
Hi Eric:
You're welcome.
I'm going to assume that your car is an automatic, as that design has a problem like your often. the problem is actually not in the column at all. It's in the release mechanism controlled by the shifter. The ignition doesn't know the car is in Park and therefore will not allow the key to be rotated to the locked position, thus also licking the steering wheel. It's a built in safety mechanism so no one can ever lock the steering while the car is out of Park.
So, what needs to be done is to either determine if it's an electric release mechanism, or a cable release. In either case, it can be eliminated right at the lock assembly. either the cable can be disconnected or the electric solenoid can be removed. Although this will allow for that safety feature to be overridden, it will cure your problem immediately.
To repair it correctly may entail
1) replacing the shift mechanism,
2)tracing out where the open circuit for the electric release is or
3)determining why the cable is not traveling the full distance to release the key
(I'm attaching a poor picture of a cable design locking mechanism to illustrate where you should look if this is your design)
Hopefully your mechanic will see what I am referring to and it's not too late to stop him form replacing things you don't need. I've encountered this often...I'm confident this is your situation as well. (When the locks fail, they always fail when trying to turn them on, not off)
Good luck
Doug
