Homewood Locksmith
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A stuck key is never a good thing! This is especially true when that key is to your car’s ignition! Suddenly, your driving and travel plans have ended abruptly and the worst part is that you didn’t find out about it until you are were all set and ready to go to your destination! Here at Homewood Locksmithwe service auto ignitions and stuck keys on a regular basis so we fully understand your frustration at not being able to drive as planned. This can be particularly annoying considering that Homewood, AL is so rural with roads and highways connecting our fair city to so many nearby communities and towns. Not to worry though! Your stuck ignition key may not be anything to worry about. Read on and see what our automotive locksmiths suggest for this occurrence – you may just save yourself a service call along with some stress and money!
A stuck ignition key can hit you out of nowhere and fast, too! You may have just loaded the car so that you can take the family on a much needed vacation or retreat. Maybe you were about to take the kids to school or drive to pick up your date for the night. Our minds are usually focused on our destination and plans and not on if the car will work or not. That’s why it’s such a surprise and let-down when something goes wrong and it doesn’t. To make matters worse, our stress, fear and sometimes anger cloud our judgement so that all sorts of scenarios play out in our minds. An emotional state can cause us to over react and make unwise decisions, spend extra money and make foolish and often rash choices that we often regret later.
It’s a cliché but try to stay calm during a stuck ignition situation. This is often hard to do when you are trying to remember if you have enough money left on the credit card to pay for repairs or for a last minute taxi to work. Your mind may be racing at this point as you try to think of all the calls you have to suddenly make explaining your absence due to a stuck ignition key! If this situation occurs, remember reading this and calm yourself as you now have options to try that just might make a very good difference in your day! Take a few deep breaths and try your best to clear your mind of any distractions, anxiety or fear. You still have options at this point remember?
First of all, apply your parking brake before you do anything else. You are going to be trying a few, easy tasks but you don’t want your car rolling forward or backward during these exercises. Every year, people and pets are injured, maimed and even killed by rolling vehicles that needlessly moved due to lack of parking brakes being used. Don’t become a statistic or a victim; use that parking brake now!
Okay, your ignition key is stuck but is it really? Try to wiggle it back and forth and see if it comes out. Some ignitions are built to hold the key in a sturdy manner and all it takes is a little force to loosen it. Don’t strong-arm the key; you might break it and then your problems are compounded as you now need a new transponder key made and broken key extraction. While you are doing this, be sure to double check that you are in the right gear. You must be in PARK and no other gear. In older cars you could start the car in NEUTRAL but in most late model autos, you have to be in PARK only and not anywhere in between. The simple act of not being in gear can cause your key to become stuck and a simple and tiny movement of the gear shift can end your stuck key problems immediately!
Your steering wheel is the next item to move about. Many modern cars will lock up the steering wheel and the ignition key if the wheel is leaned upon too heavily. Many a AAA call has been initiated over the years due to this one simple and little known act. Apply some force to your car’s steering wheel and see if this doesn’t unlock it along with your ignition key.
A drained battery can be another problem that affects your ignition key. This is because your transponder key sends signals to the on board computer built into your car, giving it the okay to start the engine. If your car’s battery is drained, that signal will not be strong enough to transmit as it should and your ignition system won’t function right. See if this is your problem by testing your battery. See if the windshield wipers or headlights are working. You can also test your radio, headlights, car seats and power windows.
Is the correct transponder key in your ignition? While this may sound like a ridiculous question, we are serious. Just because a key goes into the key slot doesn’t mean that it comes back out easily. If you live or work in a place where other people have similar keys to cars of the same make, it’s easy to grab the wrong one and not find out until the key is jammed tight in your ignition. Again, don’t strong-arm it; this can result in breakage of someone else’s key and you don’t want that to happen! A better way is to lightly spray some electrical contact cleaner into the key slot. Follow up with a light spritz of silicon lock lubricant. This will not only lubricate the key allowing you to remove it but it also cleans the inside of the ignition lock at the same time. Did that work? If not, now you can call a locksmith!
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