Help - Can't remove ignition key

My 06 Super V8 has been parked for a long time with a battery maintainer on it and today I needed to finally move it to my cement drive to install a new radiator. It started right up and I moved it very carefully to the drive because it was giving the vehicle too low message, and once there I could turn off the engine but could not turn the key to the locked position and remove it. It appears to be stuck in the accessory position and the center display remains on. I reconnected my battery maintainer to keep the battery up, but is there a manual way to get the key to turn to the locked position so I can take it out? This car has had a lot of quirks but this one has never happened before.

I’ve turned the steering wheel and shifted in and out of park a number of times with my foot on and off the brake, but the key will not turn past the engine off position. Help!

OK, False alarm. I went back out and kept trying the key while jiggling the wheel and the gear shift and finally something in the ignition switch went kind of POP! and the key turned to lock and would turn on and off and lock again. Whew! time for some WD40 in the slot.

NO WD-40 :no_entry_sign: … Use powdered graphite lube spray instead, as with all locks involving “electronics” … btw, Superblue, my '94 XJS 4.0, does something similar (or did), but at the opposite end. You take the key out and you don’t hear that same mechanism go “click” like it should whenever the key is withdrawn. Result is that when you go to open the driver’s door the beeping alert (i.e. key left in ignition) goes off, as the car still thinks the key is in the ignition. I usually give the steering wheel a good slam or two with my hand to “unstick” it, it goes “click” then and problem solved for the time being. :relieved:

Too late, I already did the WD40. BTW, it is best to NOT put the straw all the way into the lock. I had to get a small awl and insert it to release the WD40’s straw. Hope I didn’t do any damage with the WD 40, but isn’t graphite conductive?

BTDT shame I was late to the post.

It may be, but then I guess you need to balance that aspect of it vs. the risk that putting a liquid like WD-40 into an electric lock can eventually attract dirt and gunk into the electrical contacts and really foul things up later on (or so I have been told) …