Key sticks in ignition

CSTREETER

MEMBER
2011 NISSAN PATROL/SAFARI
3.0L
6 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
130,000 MILES

Key gets stuck in ignition, can jiggle the gear selector and the key eventually comes out. Is the problem an inhibitor switch due to moving selector back and fourth to find that sweet spot for the key to come out or is it something much worse?

Thursday, April 16th, 2020 AT 10:57 PM

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

You are correct that there is a switch inside the shifter that tells the ignition switch that the vehicle is in park and it is okay to release the key. Moving the shifter around gets the switch to finally show that the vehicle is in park and it then releases the key.

Unfortunately this is a pretty common issue on all vehicles. The unfortunate thing is we do not have a service manual on this vehicle to be able to provide you detailed info on how to do this. However, the Armada is the USA version which is close. Clearly it will not be exactly the same but assuming your vehicle is a floor shifter, it should be similar.

Let me know if you have questions. Thanks

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