key stuck in acc position

Been searching for the best answer but seems to happen to more floor shifters than column shifters.

I have a 1996 Tacoma and when I put it in park, I can turn off the ignition and move the key to acc. Key will not go to off and I cannot pull it out of the ignition cylinder.

I disconnect the battery and the key can move to the off position and is released for extraction.

I read in some forums that is could be slop in the shifter, the ignition solenoid, or the ignition cylinder.

Is the ignition solenoid the same/integrated in the ignition cylinder?

--thanks

 

Try this: Put shifter into N. Try to turn it off. Put shifter into P.

 

This happens to me sometimes, usually when I forget to take it out of gear, but give it a half turn clock wise then back and it should release. On my Dad's Boxster this is a big problem with the plastic peices at the end of the locking mech(Not sure what it's called) breaking and not being able to retrieve the key so maybe replace that?
Also try babytruck's idea she's pretty smart.

 

thanks for the tips, but neither work. The key can go from inserted off, acc, on start. When either in park or neutral and truck running, key can go from position on to acc, but not off. Only way I can get the key to off is to disconnect the battery.

 

Have you tried to push the key in deeper into the keyhole as you are turning?

 

I just tried it again in the daylight, no bueno

I connected the battery, pushed the key in the "lock" position, and turned over the truck. It started and the shift indicator says park. I then put the shifter in neutral and turned off the truck, and placed the shifter in park. Pushing/jiggling the key gets me to the ACC position and almost to lock, but not all the way there.

Btw, I dont need to press the brake anymore to put the truck in gear. Seems like the shift isn't all the way in its locked position. I am going to take off the steering column plastic to see if maybe the shifter is not hitting it's sensor to say, hey stupid, i'm in park.

 

sometimes you need to turn the wheel to the left or right .. not sure why this locks the key in the ignition, but it does
edit: NVM .. this is when you are starting the car .. my bad

 

My next question was going to be: "Do you have your foot on the brake?"

 

took apart the plastic covers and found the bolt holding the shifter to be loose, I took it out and it is damaged. The shifter is held in place between two metal brackets on column, secured by a 10 mm bolt that should go through the assy.

 

I had the same thing happen to me. I wiggled it forever and finally got it to the off position. Once you get it out, change keys. That ended up being my problem somehow. Good luck

 

I know right, seems 90% of the problems are usually solved by operator error. Will take a pic of the bolt and it's location if this solves the problem.

Right now the 1996 tacoma is at 199427, I need 575 more miles to 200K and dammnit, I'm going to make it.

 

No, you are correct, I can start easy, it's turning off that is the problem. With my current problem, the steering wheel will not 'lock' when turning left or right.

 

Glad that you found the problem. Keep us posted, I want to know that it got fixed.

 

Sometimes my key gets stuck in acc when I'm not completely shifted in P. It'll be engaged in P, but the shifter requires another small click upwards to be able to unlock the key

 

Yes, I suspect it is more the column shifter not reaching it's home in Park. Bolt was $1.86 and is located in KC. Toyota says they'll have it in St. Louis by noon tomorrow.

 

Picked up the part, installed and I will make it to 200k! Bolt was the problem. There was also a missing 10mm nut that secured the bolt into position, I had a spare nut to install. Tightened shifter in bracket to stop the wiggle/play and the key will turn to lock flawlessly now.

 

steering wheel now locks when turned, brake pedal must be pressed to get out of park, and truck operates as intended.

 

Wow that's great! And thanks for sharing the pics, people are definitely going to learn from this!

 

My truck was having this same problem I have a 2000 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner and my shifter is in the floor. My truck wouldn't turn off and would get stuck in the acc mode and I would have to unhook the battery to be able to take the key out. I thought it was somethin with it not registering that it was in park, or somethin with the ignition switch but figured out the actual problem was something with electrical because when the battery was unhooked it would turn fine but hooked it wouldn't so I started trying to play with stuff and there is a little white box with two screws right under the ignition switch and all I did was loosen those two screws and now it works perfectly fine and comes out everytime.

 

Wow, that bolt had seen some torque from time to time it looks like. Looked like it was a lil used up!