Ignition key hard to turn when cold

My 80 year old mother's 93 Gran Prix has suddenly gotten very hard to turn the ignition key to start it in cold weather. It's not hard to turn when warmed up but she only drives it short distances (church, etc) and it never gets that warm inside unless parked in the sun. She has arthritis in her hand and it's painful to have to turn it that hard. Is this problem addressable without taking the steering column apart, or could just spraying WD-40 or something into the key slot help?

Reply to
Dale R
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DO NOT use wd-40 on the ignition. Go to an auto parts store and get a graphite based spray designed for auto key locks and ignition. Any oil base lubricants will just gum up the lock. The correct spray will probably fix her problem if an oil based lubricant hasn't been used.

Reply to
Woody

Agreed. But use the graphite sparingly. Too much and it might drip out and ruin your mom's dress.

Reply to
Roy

Graphite based lubricants can leave a conductive film. Is there any possibility that this could precipitate a problem with the key pellet reading function??

Reply to
<HLS

I too have the same problem but it seems to get better in May. -7 this morning did not help any.

Reply to
Tim

They didn't use the key pellets in '93 Grand Prix's. As for using WD-40, I did use it on my old '91 Grand Prix a couple of times. I had the same problem. The colder it got outside, the harder it was to turn the key. A couple of sprays and it was all good again. But, like the other poster's said, it would be better to use something else.

Reply to
80 Knight

I have used WD-40 and have never had a problem with it. It is not conductive, and leaves only a light lubricating film. It does not totally evaporate as has been suggested before.

While not a powerful lubricant, WD has a lot of uses.

I didnt know when Grand Prix had the security key system. My 1990 Reatta has (had) it. I had it bypassed last year, just because the reader had gotten lazy and I didnt want to spend the money to go into the steering wheel.

Reply to
<HLS

I used to own a '91 and a '92 Grand Prix, neither of which had the key security system. As far as I can remember, 1994 was the first year the Grand Prix's had them. That's also the first year air-bags were put into the dash and wheel.

Reply to
80 Knight

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