Auto gearbox stuck in 'park'

sounds like you need to waggle the steering wheel a bit while trying the key. I don't think the gearbox will stop the key turning in the ignition. The solenoid in the gearbox is to do with having your foot on the brake before you can move the selector lever.

He's already tried waggling the steering wheel. Sounds like it could be an electrical fault. Ie, the brake controlled solenoid is not releasing. Mike.

that would stop him moving the selector from park , his problem is that he can't turn the key in the ignition (unless I have misread)

Try and find the fuse that controls the shift lock solenoid

That's how I read it too. I'm with Mr C on this one. Jiggle the wheel whilst simultaneously trying to turn the key, also moving the key in and out slightly whilst doing so may help. An almost dead steering lock IMHO.

Steve

I don't know about Vectra autos, but he mentions something about a link between the auto box and being able to turn the key. Mike.

"could be the brakelight switch! it's all wired in to the gearbox and without that working the car didn't know the brake was being pressed down, so it refused to move from park! He just bent the brakelight switch bracket in to place and it's fine again"

was the advice I got when the aa came ou when my punto was playing silly jammy doggers

OK folks, let's have a bit of logical thinking here. It's an auto gearbox and as such (at least in all the auto's that I've ever had) the starter motor doesn't even spin, let alone the engine, in any position other than Park or Neutral. If the selector lever is in R, D, 3, 2, or 1 (or whatever), the key will turn but then the starter motor doesn't get any current and nothing happens at all.

Therefore, the fact that the selector lever is "stuck" in Park, has no bearing whatsoever on the fact that he can't turn the key - Park is one of only two positions where the key turns and the engine starts, but the key will turn with the selector lever in any position.

What we have here is a defective steering lock/key barrel.

John

Vice it!!

This is entirely possible - again I don't know the Vectra, but on the '93 Merc I had there was an interlock between the key and the autobox and the footbrake. You couldn't turn the key unless it was in P or N, and you couldn't get it out of P without the footbrake applied. My wife once managed to "jump" this, after the car stalled at some traffic lights and she tried to restart it without putting it in N or P. Result: key wouldn't turn, and I had to force the lever back into the Park position.

If the key physically won't turn then it sounds like a steering lock issue rather than a problem with the autobox. My Vectra-C is an automatic; it will let you fire the engine up with it in park and without the brake etc. pressed. You only need to press the brake to shift out of park.

What a brilliant response, thank you so much to all that replied.

It was Shazzbat, John and Mr Cheerful that nailed this one. I concentrated on the steering wheel and turning the key all kinds of different ways. By pressing the keyhole towards the steering column with force and pulling the key away from the steering column slightly whilst turning I could actually turn the key and get the car started! Its maybe worth mentioning that when the key eventually turned the steering wheel sprang back, there seemed to be a lot more tension on it than I thought, which probably contributed to the key not turning.

Anyway, Monday morning crisis averted! My sincerest thanks to you all for helping me out of a tight scrape, I really really appreciate it.

Raga

You're very welcome - glad you got it sorted,

John

Yup, it's nice to be right occasionally, and it's nice for an OP to come back and let us know how it went.

But a word of caution for the OP - It's only in remission, they never heal up. You need to get the lock sorted.

Steve

sounded to me as though he hadn't 'unsprung' the steering enough, rather than any actual fixable fault.

Or a gubbed inhibitor switch on the gearbox.

As the others have said, the inhibitor switch locks the transmission selector, not the key.

If the inhibitor switch locked the key, and you need to have the ignition on to release the transmission selector from "P" then no automatic Vectra would have moved.

This, IMO, would be a good thing.

It sounded to me as if he had probably pulled on the steering wheel as he got out, simply causing the lock to go in under quite a bit of tension. Easy to be fooled by it, if it has never happened before - has caught me out for a few seconds.

Now when it happens, I always try pulling the wheel hard both ways if it seems to be the problem.