My 2000 Saab 9-3 is having an issue with the Ignition

Howdy from Tennessee, I'm Chris aka Moose. Who am I helping today? I'm glad you've come here to get help. I will do my best to get the answer you are looking for. I help many customers, so sometimes my replies are delayed, I will respond once available. I try to be online at 1-5 pm and 10 pm-5 am every day. Is the concern the car powers up with the key in the run position but the [engine](/topics-engine-saab/) will not crank to start?

Hey Moose, this is Tom. Thanks for your help. The problem is that when I put the key in the ignition it will not turn out of the lock position. (I was able to get it out of the lock position twice in about 300 attempts, at which point I could turn the engine on, but when I turned it off again the ignition became stuck at the lock position again.)It has had no such problems prior. I first had the problem about 24 hours ago when I went to start the car, prior to that I last drove it about 18 hours prior.My girl knocked over a soda when we were parking, and though only a small amount spilled, I was in a rush to clean it up, and think I turned the engine off still in gear. Not sure if that could have caused an electrical malfunction with the neutral safety switch where the car thinks its in gear and won't let me unlock. (The electrical can be finicky on old Saabs as I'm sure you know.) Also thought maybe some soda got into the ISM and was gumming up the works. Got some electrical contact cleaner spray and tried to give the inside and outside of the ignition a light spray, but no luck.Wasn't able to get my mechanic on the line, but I talked to their guy who mans the phones, and he says its got to be that the ignition switch has gone bad. Just seems suspect that it would go from working perfectly for 21 years to completely unusable overnight

Hello, Tom I assume you have ruled out the steering being in a bind and locked up unable to turn?

Yeah, the wheel is definitely not locked. Reading some forums they mention that Saab wheels are supposed to lock when you turn them off, but I couldn't discern if that was true for 2000 9-3s or just later models. I never noticed the steering wheel locking when I turned the car off, but I haven't had the car too long, and am fairly oblivious to a lot of car stuff.I did a little trouble shooting with my coworker who has worked in the automotive/mechanic industry for about a decade, that was the first thing he had me try was cranking the wheel hard right and turning the key, but that had no effect.The two times I did get it past 'lock' and got it turned on it felt like it might've been related to depressing the ignition cylinder while turning, but subsequent attempts at that haven't yielded any positive results.

Thanks for those details. The shifter is not able to prevent turning the key from the off position but it can prevent the key from being able to turn off if not shown in park. The concern will be the tumblers in the ignition lock cylinder worn out. You will need a new cylinder and keys to address this concern. Thank you for seeking us for help, I hope I provided what was needed. Press reply if you need to follow up. If you liked my answer please let me know so I can mark your question complete. Moose

Thats what I was afraid of. Thats what the desk guy at my mechanic suggested too, but figured I'd get a second opinion, since he literally told me that 3 minutes before closing for the weekend, so I thought he may have been blowing smoke up my ass. While I wouldn't say I 'like' your answer because its the most expensive of the potential problems I was looking at, you did satisfactorily answer my question and can mark it as complete. Thank you for your help! Have a good weekend.

You are welcome