bravada key stuck in ignition, car stone dead electrically, stuck in park too....

my wife got a BRAND new battery in her 99 bravada a month ago, & car's been working fine daily - there's only about 60K miles on it. this AM in garage I'm out having a cig in the driveway, nearby, as she turns the key to go to work, and I hear the dreaded 'single electrical click', then her yelling "it won't start AND key won't come out of ignition, either". I _didn't_ hear the typical 'this battery is in too low a charge state to crank it over' type solenoid buzzing for a few seconds - just the one, single, solitary solenoid "we're stone dead electrically right NOW _immediately_" type click....

more: no electrical functions work: underhood lite, headlites, dome light, none. key IS stuck in ignition, and shaking the strg whl AND stomping brake pedal at same time is no help. jiggling key inward, wiggling steering wheel, and key at same time, outward, back and to, up and down, pressing inward, outward, all around all no help. key is in 'off' position, and will only go into (what I assume are) the off, ignition on, and start (spring-loaded) positions, all of which are 'no use'/no change/stone dead. shifter also stuck in park, and depressing it's side button while standing on brake to TRY moving it is ALSO no help (so car can not even be backed up by pushing it backward from it's pkg place). there are no indicator lites on dash lit with key in 'on' or off positions (no change), nothing electrical works, no bulbs glow anywhere of any sort. also, battery screw-on terminals clean, cable connectors appear clean, AND cables at batt _are_ tight. like I said, battery is very recently new...

the bravada was working & driving fine as of last evening...had no typical 'battery is near defective' type indicators as prelude to this recently, either (no dim headlights, trouble starting it or cranking it over, etc)

checked and read some google searches text and newgroup texts looking for recalls/similar problems/solutions, to no avail. found no hidden 'small round hole' to push a pin into by or next to the ignition switch-which was mentioned as way of releasing stuck keys in some post I read). sheesh, what to check (or do) next?

"best guesses" as to cause, and possible cures welcomed ..... ;-\

question, in case it's neccessary: under the plastic, is this column-locking ignition switch held to the column with: a. factory 'break-off-head' bolts? or maybe b. by 'security torx' fasteners or c. normal torx heads, or d. some other 'proprietary weird-headed' fasteners of some sort? I'm guessing it's _not_ held to the column by regular allen heads or normal bolt heads, right? am I gonna need my die grinder, welding grinder, or dremel for this job?

so, guys, what should I checking for (or do) next? seems highly unlikely the battery could go from 'known new' yesterday' to 'totally shot' today...but??? so, uhh???

Reply to
bill yohler
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Since there seems to be no electrical activity, have you tried removing the positive cable from the battery and tried jumping from another vehicle?

Almost sounds like > my wife got a BRAND new battery in her 99 bravada a month ago, & car's

Reply to
Mike Behnke

"bill yohler" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

First of all, if you wanna roll it out of the garage, energize your battery (cables, charger, another charged battery) so you can shift it outta park. That safety, where you gotta depress the brake before shifter will come outta Park is apparently controlled by an electric solenoid which has to be energized to operate. If you have cables that won't reach from another car, jump off your lawn mower's 12v batt. JUST(SEE CAUTION BELOW) to unlock the shifter. Often, L/M- batt. is easy to remove, light enough to carry, and powerful enough to do low-load functions on your car. Sounds like you may or may not have needed a new battery you bought a month ago. Obviously, something is killing your new battery, or else your alternator is not recharging it properly. With the key stuck in the ignition switch: unlock the Park(1st pg.) first. This may allow enough extra movement of the shifter to "unstick" the key--and I'm guessing it will. As for the dead battery: something as simple as a loose/worn alternator belt slipping could allow the batt's charge to be slowly consumed in a month's usage. I'm betting on a defective alternator, tho. Like it's putting out, at best, less than needed to replace what the car is using from the battery, and after a month, the "pot finally ran dry". Have alternator checked at AutoZone/Advance or your favorite garage. CAUTION: DO NOT JUMP-START THE CAR AND ASK THE ALTERNATOR TO RECHARGE THE BATTERY. INSTEAD, CHARGE THE BATT. WITH A CHARGER. NEWER GM'S WILL OVERLOAD THE ALTER. IN SUCH INSTANCES AND DESTROY IT. This next info may hurt. Sorry. IF your old battery was dead a month ago, and you followed the "DO NOT..."-procedure above, that could've caused the alter. to be failing now. Many mechanics have not learned this 'lesson-from-hard-knocks' yet; so, don't feel stupid IF this is what occured to you. (I'm not saying how I learned about it!) HTH & good luck. Have a merry Christmas, and hopefully this hurdle will not ruin your day. sdlomi

Reply to
sdlomi

Reply to
stuart8181

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