So I drive to work the other day in my 97 Impreza outback. Park in my usual spot, try to turn the car off and the key wont back off past the accessory.

 

I realized then that the key i put in was for my 93 Impreza L. :banghead:

 

So I can turn off the headlights and radio and lock the door with the real key. (Surprised that the 93 key worked at all!) But I am taking this car on a 3000 mile trip to Canada in a week. The 93 is currently for sale and I don't know if I have a spare.

 

I have tried wiggling, jiggling, tugging, pushing, pulling and about any way I think of to get the key to back out.

 

Any tricks or tips? How hard would it be to take the cylinder out and take it apart to remove the key? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Have seen the suggestion of using a small paper clip being inserted slowly to push the pins down,so they are not catching the key, allowing it to be removed.

 

O.

Is the car an automatic? I'm out on a limb here, but I had the same problem on my 98 Legacy (though with the proper key.) The shifter button was stuck down because the spring inside it broke. I removed the screw on the knob and took off the handle. I could then return the lock to off and remove the key; I pushed down on the shaft to shift it until I got a JY knob. Just a guess.......

It's a 5 speed. Will try the paper clip trick though. That sounds promising.

I have pushed some compressed air in around the key and got it out.

u might be screwed like i was with my 85 brat, subaru makes there ignitions so if u put in the wrong key it brakes the pins on the inside once u get the key out:banghead:i would say try using wd-40 or a lock easier. my dad put in a 87 gl wagon key into my brats ignition totally different ignition but the dumb key actually worked on my doors

I have pushed some compressed air in around the key and got it out.

 

and some teflon lock lube. amazing stuff.

 

key tip for the future, drill a hole in the key where your thumb goes on the ''other'' key. this way they are different.

I haven't actually tried this myself, and you might try it if everything else fails. Probably one of the teeth on the key is hung up on one of the pins in the lock. Tie a string through the hole in the key so you can pull on it as if you were removing the key. While pulling on the string rap on the key sharply with a piece of wood. Don't overdo the rap and damage the lock. If you are lucky, the rap will cause the pins to move and free the key.

do the brake lights work ? the shift lock works off the brake light fuse and if looses fuse will not let key out have seen thiss many times of the shift interlock realy has broke the soilder joint and is not sending the brake signal to ig

do the brake lights work ? the shift lock works off the brake light fuse and if looses fuse will not let key out have seen thiss many times of the shift interlock realy has broke the soilder joint and is not sending the brake signal to ig

 

this sounds likely. if it was just the key not coming out it could be ''stuck''. but if you can turn it to start and back to off , but not to lock, then something is stopping it, not letting go further. and it is not the cut of the key or the pins in the key cylinder.

 

at least that is my guess any way.

do the brake lights work ? the shift lock works off the brake light fuse and if looses fuse will not let key out have seen thiss many times of the shift interlock realy has broke the soilder joint and is not sending the brake signal to ig

 

Interesting... So how would I go about fixing it if this were the case? There's no good way to pull the cylinder.

On a manual transmission car the brake switch will not matter.

There is a hitch in the key stroke that requires you to push the key IN to get it to turn back all the way to the lock position. If the key is incorrect, it may be that the key is hitting the lock cover and cant go in far enough to get past the hitch.

 

I've seen that happen before on a Honda, and the magic trick was to push the lock cylinder inward with a screwdriver while turning the key back.

It was made especially difficult in that case, because the owner had twisted the key and broken it off inside the lock cylinder. It then had to be fished out with very skinny needle nose pliers.

the problem i am talking about will not let key shut off all the way it stays on position off of on so you cant turn key all the way to get it out if cant be fixed easyaly i remove the key interlock soiliniond from bottom of ig swicth is incapslated in lead and held on with two screws can be unpluged and removed warning thiss will let car shut off in gear so care should be taken to make shure in park evry time