Long story short, my key will not turn in my ignition. I have an 04 Discovery SE7. I parked on the side of the street when I had company so they could use the drive and now it is stuck there. The police have tagged it to be towed because it can't be parked in the same spot for more than 7 days. So now I have 4 days left until it is towed. I have tried turning the wheel while turning the key. I have tried graphite in the lock and tapping with a hammer. When the key is inserted, it dings like its in there, but no movement from the key at all. Any advice?

Thanks!

 

The pins in the lock may be worn but I would try turning the wheel past the lock position and back if you can. I guess you have tried turning the key with pressure on the steering wheel trying to turn the wheel hard while turning the key?

Do you have second key you can try?

 

1) Lower the fuse access panel under the steering column.

2) loosen three Phillips screws at bottom of steering column shroud, remove top and bottom shroud.

3) locate ignition and use chisel to get a bite on 2 blank screw heads on top of ignition, hit chisel with hammer to unscrew screw heads.

4) use tiny Phillips to remove 2 screws at back end of ignition(black electrical connector).

5) insert larger flat blade screwdriver into slot of electrical connector and turn like you would a key.

6) move vehicle.

 

I gues u could always try wheel dollys on all four wheels and pull/push it around.

 

I suspect that you've done this a number of times before, but I have found that an appropriately sized "Bolt-Out" tool is perfect for this operation. Pretty foolproof... Just tap it on to set it and use a socket wrench to crank it out.

 

More than one way to skin a cat.

 

When I had a bad/worn ignition lock I had to slightly pull out the key as the key was, in essence, over inserted into the lock. Changing the ignition lock and cutting some new keys fixed the issue.

 

It's funny as we are all chiming in with solutions but the original poster with the urgent problem has not responded.

Maybe they towed it!

 

I sometimes think we talk amongst ourselves. Guy joins, first post, everything's urgent. Probably find the same post on 5 sites. It's all good fodder when searching for a particular problem later down the line.

 

^ so true