Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler That time of the year

Got some new lips for the car, doubled its value

Nice, very nice.

We just bought 4 new skins as well, that are mounted on a new 2017 Prius V for running around daily in the mild climate of Vancouver Island - we also have a 2016 RAV4 AWD for the tougher stuff.

The gas mileage of the V is already most impressive 50 - 70 MPG (Imp Gal) without trying too hard. Our gas prices here are some of the highest in North America so this vehicle should mitigate some of our fuel costs.

My beloved 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix Supercharged GTP Coupe (red) with very low mileage (80,000 miles) is going to my daughter as a gift (it is worthless in the marketplace). It was a retirement gift to myself way back when. I just put on a set of Pirellis from Costco so tires won't be a problem for a while.

Unfortunately, it is having the common issue of the key getting stuck in the ignition that my mechanic seems to be having difficulty diagnosing so we a still working on that before it goes - any thoughts?

I'll be sad to see it go...

TAM

We get the odd GM product with ignition issues, problem is they are usually older vehicles and even if you can figure out which part is at issue getting the parts is a whole other story. We often just find a good used column to save a lot of hassle. We had a blazer with a known problem with the tumbler and a small release cable but it came as an assembly from GM and was over 500 bux , used column to the rescue. Search a round the net see if someone is haveing similar issues. Lots of info out there. Got a good deal on the tires, my kid got a job at Kal tire right when i ordered them so i got them at cost.

Stuck Keys are a widespread problem in many GM products of that era.

There are several failures that can cause it from the Brake Pedal Switch, Console Shifter Button, Solenoid in the Shifter & the Solenoid in the Steering Column that releases the key once the vehicle is in Park. If they don't all communicate, the key will not rotate all the way to OFF & remains captured. Often it is broken wires at a connector at the base of the Shifter inside the console, but that is not the case with mine.

With all of the troubleshooting that they did, it now seems to be working; however, I don't believe that it will be permanent. One workaround is to depress the plunger in the 'secret' access hole under the steering column that manually activates the Solenoid thus releasing the key.

I really loath these kinds of problems...

TAM

Well we can thank the insurance companies and thieves for this. What happened to the good ole days when you put your car in park and it rolled away and no one cared LOL. We actually have one customer with the same issue but they have never asked for it to be fixed, too cheap. Its a PITA when they come here cause i take the car outside and go to get the key out and forget about their workaround which they fail to mention.


Tam i took a look at the steering column diagram and the BTSI solenoid operates a cable that releases the key and in my experience this has been the cause of what you are experiencing. Just went through this with afore mentioned 98 blazer , according to our locksmith shop they see this often and is expensive to fix since you can not buy just the cable .