OK, read through to here and this one really popped my bubble. We have an '03 Impala that has this wonderful little feature. It decides on a whim when it wants to function and always at the worst possible time does it choose to touch its inner a$$hole and deny service. This car has now become a two person minimum car, because inadvertently someone has to get out, disconnect the shifter cable at the shift quadrant and manipulate it to whatever gear you want. Quite the pita.
And no, the park brake is ineffective so you can't hop out on your own and shift into reverse, back out of the parking spot, get out, open the hood again and shift into drive, shut hood and proceed to roam about the planet.
Probably only needs a shot of wd40 to wash out 19 years of dust
The column actuator is either sticking, binding, wearing, not adjusted, or there is a worn pin / key that has worn the lock cylinder
does your car have an open recall for the ignition switch recall? Check vin on NHTSA website
your key is on the column, right? if not, Im not sure how to replace it but you should look at your key/tumblr
and you should definitely pull the column parts off and inspect the thing if you have column swithc. Also, battery connections need to be checked clean and good, the cables corrode in the rubber covers you dont see it.
The issue is a common GM problem in that era.
The problem is multiple different things depending on column, floor, shift or column, dash cylinder and seemingly chevy and buick taking an L in the 2000s hard and olds, saturn, pontiac, not being so bad but it seems to be possible on
the problem is worse with keys that have more keys on the chains, keys that sit in back pockets, keys that have been used a lot(sometimes a new key cut to vin can help) and people who force the cylinder when it doesnt work(not really everyones fault tho) and then heavy things on the key chain while in the cylinder.
