steering wheel not locked but i cant put 'lock' to 'off'
any ideas?
thanks

 

The following is just kind of a series of thoughts, trying to see if something becomes obvious...

Physically the steering wheel gets locked by a metal bar being inserted into a hole in the column. When move the switch to the lock position, the bar is released but if the column isn't lined up just right, it won't go in until the wheel is moved just a bit.

You say the steering wheel still turns. Does it turn all the way or just a little? If it turns all the way, for some reason the bar hasn't released.

When the steering wheel is locked and there is pressure on the column, sometimes the switch gets frozen because of pressure on the bar and it can't be pulled back into the mechanism. A little jiggling of the wheel while trying to move the key usually solves that.

Have you recently messed with the mounting of the key switch assembly?

At some point you may end up simply removing the assembly and investigating further. I had one freeze up on me with the key stuck in the lock. Ended up buying a whole new one from RockAuto - turns out it wasn't very expensive, probably less than it would have cost me for a locksmith.

 

I never messed with such kind of door lock problems, have worked in locksmith irving team from many years but doesn't come across such problem.

 

Whether you worked or not but these kind of problems are common and faced by almost everyone. So one have to call a locksmith to resolve lock problem.

 

Rockauto seems to be very expensive, you must have considered contacting a locksmith at that moment.

 

If you remove the assembly on your own and move to the further step but after moving you need help from a locksmith because you can't operate the stuck lock manually on your own.