Many people complain that their Ford F150 key is stuck in the ignition. It is not beneficial to remove them by putting extra force; it can damage your whole cylinder, and it is costly to repair them.
Ford F150 key can get stuck in ignition due to a dead or weak battery, which provides less power supply. It can also occur due to damaged and dirty keys and their hole. Moreover, faulty cylinders like the misalignment of wafers or loaded pins and the locked steering wheels can also cause a problem recognizing the keys. You can remove the F150 key by using lubricants, charging the battery, and repairing the ignition switch.
Ford F150 is a significant source of transportation for families and friends to enjoy the family trios, and it can cause a panic situation when you are facing some issues with them. Therefore, you should place small handy tools and accessories in the toolbox to resolve the problems.
What causes the Ford F150 key to stuck in the ignition?
I have added reasons that cause this problem and create a panic situation for the driver. When you are removing them, it can also cause damage, and you can’t reuse them.
Dead battery
The battery provides a power supply to start up your truck. In the same way ignition system also requires a battery for its work.
Sometimes when you forget to turn off the headlights and indicators, it can make your battery out of supply or dead.
This condition will also occur due to exposure to high or low temperatures and corrosion in its terminals.
When you add the key, and the battery is dead, it will remain in the system, and you can feel difficulty removing them.
Your battery is not providing a proper power supply to the system on its excellent working.
Dirty keys and its hole
Sometimes these get dirt and dust quickly because people are placing them on dirty and messy tables. It is a widespread practice to use it as a knife for cutting or scraping different things.
Many people are also using them to open the nozzle of carbonated drinks and open mails, boxes, and other purposes.
When you open a taped package and tape from them remains stick on the surface, it can cause ignition cylinder pins to recognize them.
These all factors contribute to the difficulty in removal because the system can’t recognize minor changes.
Moreover, dirty holes also cause this issue because when you drive your F150 while opening its window, dust from outside will quickly enter into these holes and accumulate.
The keys and holes consist of metal material, quickly catching rust or corrosion due to humidity or moisture. When you are placing them in rusty spots, these will obstruct the coming back passage due to less friction between the surfaces.
Faulty ignition cylinder
The faulty cylinder occurs due to aging, which can cause difficulty in recognizing. In addition, the spring-loaded pins are present in the system, matching your key’s shape when inserting them.
Due to a faulty system, this arrangement of pins gets disturbed, causing matching issues.
Many people are interested in hanging different heavy chains in the same ring. When you are parking your vehicle, and it remains in the hole for some time, it exerts force in a downward direction.
This downward force causes wear and tear in the cylinder and causes the problem. Also, sometimes people place them in the pocket, which can cause the lint of cloth to stick on them.
When you place them in the hole, the lint of cloth accumulates there and obstructs the ignition cylinder.
Damaged keys
Many people are placing them in their purses and bags, which can cause uneven damage. The wear surface also occurs when you are knocking them on the door or some hard surface.
The damage to its surface and edges also comes when these are contacting the metal surface repeatedly.
During the day, many times, it may fall into the ground, which causes its edges to wear out. When its edges are cracking and bending, the loaded pins can’t recognize their shape, and you face difficulty removing them.
Transmission problem
It supplies the power supply from the engine to the driveshaft, and gears are working due to this system.
The new models come up with the latest safety features of the transmission system that vehicles remain lock when these are in neutral or drive gear.
Many times people forget to change their Ford F150 gear into the park. As a result, the vehicle remains engaging in the gears or in neutral and drives condition.
The park gears, represented by P on the system screen, are not set, then keys stay in the hole, and you can’t remove them with force.
When you are not changing the gear, it is causing disengagement because it is showing that your vehicle is in a driving position.
In the manual vehicles that are old, this issue was occurring because they are not in neutral gear.
Locked steering wheel
The latest models also have steering lock safety features. Many people don’t know this and become worried about why this is happening.
The steering lock mechanism is a safety system that is when you are turn off your Ford F150 during driving, and then you want to remove the keys, it will stay there, and you are not able to remove them.
It is happening because of the locking of the steering wheel and ignition cylinder loaded pins to protect your vehicle.
It is the anti-theft system due to which your ignition and steering wheels become locked.
Ford F150 does not turn off properly
Some latest models of this truck come up with the latest features that you need to recognize and understand.
Some of these models have an accessory mode to turn the radio and windows when the engine is out of power supply.
You can’t do this when you want to remove your keys during this mode because the lock system’s signal is that your vehicle is not off correctly.
It is necessary to turn off all the safe modes or any other while turning off your engine to disengage the ignition system adequately.
Manufacturing issue
Sometimes this disengagement problem also occurs due to manufacturing issues. The manufacturing problems come in changing of gear which can cause difficulty in its engagements.
The manufacturing faulty also occurs in the ignition cylinder and its pins which can cause these problems.
The company suddenly recalls these models if customers are facing these kinds of issues. Moreover, the industry also fixes them free of cost to increase reliability.
Damaged wafers
Wafers are the crucial components of ignition systems. These help lock and unlock the Ford F150 that has the latest anti-theft systems.
The wafers of the lock system are also prone to damage when you are inserting the keys that have sharp and damaged teethes.
These cranky surfaces cause the disarrangement and displacement of wafers from their original position.
Its displacement from their right sides obstructs the passage, and you can’t be able to remove the keys from them.
Loose cables
Some cables are present from the gear shifting side to the ignition system near the steering wheel. These cables will prevent the removal of keys when the vehicle gear is not in park P position.
The damage or loosen cables cause issues in the binding of parts in the shift mechanism due to which key remains in the ignition, and when you are applying force to remove them, it may break.
How to remove Ford F150 key when it is stuck in the ignition?
It is necessary to remove them when they are stuck in the ignition system to turn on your Ford F150 again by using a spare one.
Repair ignition switch
The damage and wear on wafers of ignition cylinders are necessary to prevent. You can do this by removing the extra chains and keys from the ring to put less force.
When replacing the whole switch, you have to turn off the engine and disconnect the power supply. After this, you should have to press the release pin that is present near the switch.
You will need a small screwdriver to do this procedure. After this, add the release pins to the new module and slide them at the back of the hole near the steering wheel side.
Set your Ford F150 to parking gear
To solve the above problems, you need to put your vehicle into the parking P shift. It is present next to the shifter knob button.
There is a park assist button near the shifter knob, which represents a letter P with the sign of the steering wheel.
To put your vehicle into the parking mode, you should press this button two times. After this, your Ford F150 will start signaling that on which side you need to park them. After this, you can easily remove them from the hole.
Wiggle the steering wheel
When your ignition system is stuck due to an anti-theft system of locking the steering wheel, you should need to jiggle it.
First, you have to put slight pressure on the side where you are turning the key. Then wiggle the steering wheel in the left and right direction.
Then move it in an upward and downward direction 5 to 6 times to unlock them.
You can also shake the keys in the same direction to remove them from cylinders easily without breaking them.
Use of lubricants
You can also use lubricants in the ignition lock cylinder to increase friction, making the surface less corroded.
You should carefully spray the lubricants in the hole to fix this problem. You can also lubricate your keys to resolve this issue.
The graphited-based, oil-based, and dry lubricants are best. You can also try silicone sprays and powdered graphite these are less costly and readily available in markets.
These will help the locks system to work more smoothly without causing any obstruction.
Use alcohol to clean it
When you face any issue with the lock cylinder, you can also hire a professional locksmith who can fix this issue.
When the problem occurs due to dirty keys, you should clean the surface of the oily residues, dust, grime, and corrosion.
For cleaning purposes, you should use spirits, rubbing alcohol, and adhesive removals. Take a paper towel or dry wipes and spray them with alcohol, then rub the surface with these wipes.
Don’t directly spray the rubbing alcohol or adhesives on its surface. Instead, after wiping the surface, you need to dry them using a dry cloth to prevent rust.
Jigsaw blade and tweezers
People usually use these tools when the keys are stuck in the cylinder system and can break during removal. Jigsaw blades are thin; that’s why these are beneficial to use for this problem. Put these blades on the right side of the ignition path and slightly moves them upward to pull them out.
For broken sides stuck in your vehicle, you can also use pliers and tweezers to grab them. Grab the damaged parts with pliers and tweezers and pull them outside.
Charge the battery
This problem also comes due to an uncharged battery and less power supply. When this ignition problem occurs, you can try the start jump method in your Ford F150 to remove the keys from them.
You can also charge them by putting the portable charger.
If still the issue comes, you should replace the battery with new ones that can provide adequate power supply to the whole system.
How much does it cost to get a stuck key out of ignition?
The time and cost vary from procedure to procedure and person skills. Some processes like wiggling of keys and power steering, putting in parking gear, and start-up vehicle jumping require only skills. These procedures will take 20-30 minutes to resolve the problem.
According to their brand and quality, the methods like pliers, lubricants, and adhesives removal will cost about $5 to 10 dollars.
Repairment of the ignition switch and charging of the battery will cost about $15 to $20. It will take a maximum of 2 to 3 hours to do this whole process.
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