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i forgot to ask, does anybody know what the trick is to get the cylinder out? and does anybody know how long this can last or what the real problem is? replies are welcome!!!  

Great advice on the mallet - it worked for me, too (after my Dodge Grand Caravan sat for three days). A $400-500 estimate to repair at the 5-star Dodge dealer prompted me to find alternatives.

My problem is I can't find the part at Auto Zone, NAPA, Advance, or on-line.  Did you use a universal cylinder or a Dodge replacement?  I don't want to pull everything out and get stuck without the right part.  

Man that's ridiculous having to deal with that ignition problem.  I remember an old Jeep Cherokee that I could take the key out while driving.  It even got to the point where I could start it without a key.  
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jungeitiswifey:  See if the post by jeromiep on 12/24/06 helps  

July 27, 2007.  I'm at work and my wife calls to tell me that she took the kids shopping for school clothes and when she came out to start the minivan (2001 Chyrsler Town & County), the key won't even turn.  About a year (maybe two) ago, I had the same problem when I pulled in my driveway.  Luckily, I was able to jiggle the key and it worked.  Today I had no such luck.  Hotter than hades and I am out in a parking lot messing around with a key on a 25 thousand dollar vehicle.  I always swore I would never own a minivan.  I also always swore I would never buy American (after my Ford Mustang) and I especially swore off ANY Chrysler/Dodge product.  But there I was, after I had kids, and I couldn't fight it anymore. So I read the reviews and decided I liked the space and looks of the Town & Country instead of the Odessey or Sienna.  Okay, bad choice.  Besides being upset about the blasted heat, I was extremely upset with this Chrysler product.  Long story short... I called the dealer and they said I needed to have it towed to their shop and it needed a new ignition cylinder. I knew the internet would have something and low and behold, this page.  UNBElEIVABLE!!!! I can't believe this has been going on over a decade.  Nice job and kudos to the crack engineering staff.  I have WD40 and a rubber mallot and I'm off to go give it a crack.  These American car makers better remove their heads from their rumps.  Sorry, I just extremely frustrated.  Go USA!!!  

THE RUBBER MALLOT TRICK REALLY DOES WORK!!!!

I have a 2004 Pontiac Grand AM. I've had it for about 2 years now and it's never given me any trouble, until now. After returning from my vacation, the key just would not turn. I was so frustrated! I just spent a ton of money on my vacation and this was just very bad timing. After a lot of praying and patience, I found this web site.....THANK YOU GOD FOR LEADING ME TO THIS WEB SITE!!!!

I didn't have an actual rubber mallot, I only had a hammer with a rubber handle, but it did the trick. The key turned after a few good hits.

I wish I would've known about the trick before I wasted so much time playing around with the car. I drained my car battery completely, so it needed to be replaced....but it could've been a lot worse. It was time for a new battery any way.

If you're having this same problem, try this trick....it's worth it. It worked for me. I couldn't believe it.  

We have a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan that is modified for a wheelchair lift and cost about $45K. It has about 23,000 miles on it as I mainly drive it to take my wife to her doctor. The "Key-Not'Turning" syndrome has been creeping up on us as well. Today I went to move the van and the key just would not turn. I called the Dealer where I got it from and they were clueless. Once again, "Google" comes to the rescue. The rubber mallot works and I can now drive the van..

I would think that maybe we could send this thread to the Attorney General and see if they can get them to fix this item. (It cost Chrysler quite a bit of $$$ when they knew about the door locking mechanism on the rear door that would have only cost them a few bucks to fix, but they figured litigation was cheaper. Which the jury took offense to and socked it to them.)

Thanks again for the rubber mallet trick.

Kevin,  

Chalk another one up for the mallet.  I have a 2001 Dodge Neon and key would not turn in the ignition switch this morning. Spare keys did not work, but the mallet did.  Many thanks to the site and members  

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

After spending a frustrating 45 minutes or more trying to turn the ignition key on my Dodge Caravan 2001 I went to the internet and my search immediately took me to this forum. The tapping of the key (inward toward the steering column) worked right away and saved us money, time and inconvenience. Thanks to the original poster and yeah for the internet.  

Same problem for me with my 1999 Chrysler Concorde.  Again without a rubber mallet, I have used my hand, my shoe, and my umbrella. All work well but it is a pain to have to use these - especially using my hand. I am going to try the dry graphite lock lubricant.  I hope that fixes the problem.  Time for a new car.  Farewell Chrysler!!! Say Hello to BANKRUPTCY!!!  
Go Speed Racer ***

My darn key wouldn't turn either!
After reading the "12 Step Program"...wiping tears from my eyes from laughing so hard because my husband and I went thru all 12 steps with our 2003 Chrysler Town & Country last night, we are going to use the rubber mallot trick. Hubbie is on his way to the dealer to try and fix it himself before giving the rude (Sat.) manager a chance to rob us blind. When my husband told him about the problem, he played dumb and said he knew of no history of this type of problem with Chrysler T&C. He just went on & on about the list of 20 customers before us and wouldn't be able to get to it today. Maybe Monday!!! Let's see if my non-mechanically-trained husband can fix in 5- 15 minutes, what Mr. Memory Loss (highly trained) Mechanic can't do today.  KEEP YOU POSTED! Thanks for posting the hilariously, helpful & funny, 12 steps to SERENITY NOW!  I think I'll have a glass of wine now    

2002 caravan , same problem 100,000 miles with no problem. Go in the store one day and come out , key will not turn. Bumped the key a couple times with my shoe and it started turning again. I'm going to put some graphite powder in mine to see if it resolves the problem , most likely it will if its a tumbler sticking. To those of you putting lubrcants in your locks you may want to research that a little more. The locksmiths say it can actually make things worse. Goodluck to all.  

YOUR KEYCHAIN IS TOO HEAVY!

DON'T GO TO THE DEALER!!!!!  I REPEAT DOOOO NOOOOOT GOOOOO TOOOO THE DEEEEEALER!

CALL A LOCKSMITH AND YOU'LL GET THE PROBLEM SOLVED WITHIN A COUPLE OF HOURS!

That said, I joined this forum for the sole purpose of posting here.  I too found this page when I had the problem a few months ago.  And I'm here to tell ya, the mallet thing only works for a while.  This time, the mallet wasn't doing the trick.  My lock had seized up but good.

The locksmith that I called was very helpful.  When he got there, he said "another voyager"!  He confirmed that he gets more calls on voyagers, caravans, t&c, for seized ignition cylinders than he does for lockouts!  He said "not to worry, I'll have this fixed in no time".  He was happy to oblige me and let me watch how he did the whole procedure (except for getting the cylinder out of the steering column.  which I couldn't see at my angle, but he did it very quickly, without having to disassemble anything).

This lock uses several "wafers" (they act as the "tumblers") that slide in and out when you put the key in.  These wafers have such a low tolerance fit, that the slighest bit of dust can cause them to jam.  If there were a little more tolerance in the fit of these wafers, the dust would be able to fall away from the parts and they'd continue to work just fine.

DO NOT PUT GRAPHITE INTO THE CYLINDER TO LUBRICATE IT!!!!

Yeah, I know you've been told to use only the graphite.  And oftentimes graphite is a good lubricant for things like this, BUT, because of the tight tolerance of the wafers, you should stick to using ONLY liquid lubricant on this lock.  The powder can actually cause the wafers to jam even worse.  I went one step further and used both powder AND liquid, causing mine to seize up like fort knox from the mud-like substance that resulted.

For getting the lock to free up to turn, you'll want to use WD40.  But this is ONLY for getting the lock unstuck so that you can get the cylinder out.  For regular maintenance and keeping the lock lubed (which was recommended), use spray Teflon.  

To free up a stubborn lock, put a towel under the steering column, and saturate the inside of the lock with wd40.  Then tap on the key with a hammer, lightly.  Sometimes it will come undone right away, sometimes not.  The locksmith tapped on the key in my lock for about 20 minutes before it would come undone.  He said, "another ten minutes, and I'd have gotten out the drill", which would have meant a new cylinder.

Once you get the key to turn, then removing it is apparently rater simple, as he did it in about 30 seconds, without any hand tools (maybe just a pick).  putting it back in after he rebuilt it was even easier, he basically just slid it back in.

He charged me 95 bucks, which I thought was very reasonable, since he spent about an hour getting the lock to turn, removing, rebuilding, and reinstalling the cylinder.  He cleaned it, and replaced the first four wafers (closest to the outside of the cylinder).  I know the dealer would have charged more, and there's no telling what the tow man would have charged to get the car towed.  As a bonus, the locksmith came to me, was able to get there inside of two hours, and no re-keying was necessary, as he replaced the wafers with wafers of identical coding.

I told him that I had seen posts on this forum, where people described the problem as a recurring one and inquired if there was anything I could do to make sure I did not find myself in this situation again.  He asked me for my keychain.  I handed my keys to him, and he handed them right back to me.  "They are too heavy, and too long" he said.  Apparently, the weight of my keys caused the key in the lock to pull down constantly, causing wear on the inside top wafers of the lock and the ouside bottom wafers.  Add to that the fact that my keychain is kind of long, and you've got a key that's constantly putting a twisting force on the wafers, as the bottom of the keychain sways back and forth as you drive.  It's a bad combination, and can wear on the wafers inside very quickly.

So, to make sure this doesn't happen again, I've lightened up my keychain.  I once had my home security keychain on it, which housed two AA batteries, along with all my other keys (storage unit, padlocks, post office box, etc).    So now I have my keychain down to five keys on one ring, and keep my security fob separate.  Feeling the before and after, I can see how the weight of these keys likely did the damage.  I won't do that again.  As a bonus, my keys no longer hit my leg when I drive.

Also, he said to regularly spritz the inside of the lock with some Teflon lube.  Again, he said to stay away from the graphite on this lock, and most locks that are "indoor" locks.  He said teflon would work great and I'd probably never again have a problem with the combination of an annual teflon spritz and the lighter keyring.

Also, he said to tell you guys that if you ARE to the point of having to use a hammer, try this.  Get yourself a new key made (a new key, from a locksmith, not a "copy" from walmart), then lube the key with teflon.  Put the key in and out of the lock several times.  Lube the key again, repeat above process a few times.  He said this will sometimes renew the lock to the point that you won't have to use a hammer anymore.  But always remember one thing: You MUST be able to turn the key in order to get the cylinder out.  If you do like I did, and put it off, and keep using your hammer, it may eventually seize to the point that it will require drilling to remove.  Not that it really matters too much.  He said that he had a half-dozen aftermarket cylinders in his van, ready to go.  The cost if he would have had to replace the cylinder altogether, 75 dollars more.  So even if the cylinder is totally seized, you still get by much cheaper than you would towing your car to the dealer, and much quicker also.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  The locksmith gave me a one year warranty on the rebuilt cylinder.  He said if there were some way I could guarantee that a heavy keychain would never be used, he'd guarantee the work for ten years.

Good luck, and I hope this helps someone.  

Our vehicle is a Chrysler Aspen. About 19,000 miles. It's not the key weight, my wife has three keys on her ring including the gigantic factory issued key. If the problem is Key weight then it is certainly a problem they need to address. To have a nearly 50k vehicle only start after mallet tapping is insane, as is graphite or teflon spray. AND if this is any indication as to why Chrysler is having problems...sorry but I'll never recommend them. Our last truck was a Durango, not as well dressed as the Aspen but a good durable truck, before that a Sebring (omg-the brake issues drove us crazy) my wife is simply a Chrysler fan as was her dad. Personally, I vote GM.(Chevrolet Impala SS) We always engage in light debates as to which auto is the superb piece of workmanship....guess who wins this round. I gurantee you if this key issue doesn't clear up Chrysler will lose a long time devoted customer. Meanwhile we are gonna try to start the Aspen up. . . with just the ignition key, and mallet, and a locksmith business card in hand.  

Question about hitting the key... How hard and what about the air bag?
I don't want the car to think it was hit by a tree.