Doom878

Mom's car. She mentioned that over time she had to play with the key to get into the ignition. Then yesterday it finally locked her out. Key only goes in halfway. Key works fine opening doors. This is a DX model so no alarm but I believe there is still a chip in the key. Dash lights up as do the dome lights so I'm ruling out battery. I'm thinking bad ignition cylinder lock. Is this an accurate assessment?

SuperTrooper169

iTrader: (2)

^ Sounds like a pretty good assessment. I had one go on me in a Chevy Cobalt rental car. AAA came out, hit the key in with a rubber hammer and I was good to go. Of course I brought the POS back to Enterprise but it worked. I don't know if it's an option for you or not, but it might be worth a try. The AAA guy's dispatcher told him that was the offical fix for the locked cylinder issue.

Zippee

Seeing as the key opens the doors ok I agree the ignition cylinder seems a likely culprit. Do you have another key to try?

Doom878

Unfortunately it was a repo so she only got one key. This is what happens when old women don't go with their knowledgable kids to buy cars.