02 ram 1500 key issue..

the key will not turn in the ignition switch for my truck.. i have no idea what it could be, and according to the haynes manual, you have to have the key in the "on" position to be able to replace the whole thing. it turns in the door, and the dealer said there should be no reason for it to not turn. before i spend big bucks on having it towed somewhere, does anyone have any suggestions..?

thanks!

the key will not turn in the ignition switch for my truck.. i have no idea what it could be, and according to the haynes manual, you have to have the key in the "on" position to be able to replace the whole thing. it turns in the door, and the dealer said there should be no reason for it to not turn. before i spend big bucks on having it towed somewhere, does anyone have any suggestions..?

thanks!


This is a really dumb question, but have you tried pulling the steering wheel all the way to the left and trying that? I've had vehicles in the past that would not allow the key to turn unless this was done. Has something to do with some locking mechanism.

yeah ive had problems with that before.. but it ended up being a bad tumbler in the lock. strange enough since the trucks not quite that aged..

but to anyone else who has this problem.. tapping near the key hole with a screwdriver and hammer will loosen the tumber, and that lets you know somethin's up

Not sure what the problem is, but my two cents on the key issue.....dropped my son's car off for some maintenance the other day, left my keys with them. The maintenance tech said that it's a no-no to have so many keys on a chain that you put into an ignition switch. Can tear up the ignition switch over time. He recommended 2-3 keys max on a key chain that you stick into an ignition switch. Any chance you are overloading your switch with the weight of the keys?