[Ladyduck]

'09 passion cabrio, 63k.
Hi everyone! Husband opened top and dumped snow onto shifter, and ignition. Now key won't turn. Battery is fine. Niw what do I do? Oh, and the top is still down!

 

[jwight]

Find a new husband....

 

[colin25]

From an old thread on here..."I was at a Mercedes dealer picking up a gallon of coolant and when I get back into the car to start it, the key wouldn't turn in the ignition switch. After a dozen tries jiggling it and the shifter, I got it to work and drove straight home. Tried again a few times and no problem. What is this about?"..answer was debris inside the key hole. In your case it might be snow got in, so key not fitting correctly in, so thaw it out with a hot air dryer

 

[kjp4756]

I had a similar thing happen a few years ago after I dropped the key in a snow bank. I didn't have a heat gun or hair dryer so I just used a lighter and heated up the key. That worked.

 

[tripmacker]

MY key was getting sticky in the ignition. I little squirt of WD40 made the key entry and extraction a smoother.

 

[vadsoom]

There might be some ice in the tumbler. The heated key trick works, but not too hot. I've read lubricants like WD40, Liquid Wrench or oil aren't good for locks. Locks need something like graphite as to not gum up the mechanism.

 

[Neon_Guy]

There might be some ice in the tumbler. The heated key trick works, but not too hot. I've read lubricants like WD40, Liquid Wrench or oil aren't good for locks. Locks need something like graphite as to not gum up the mechanism.

This is I believe to be true, anytime we had a sticky lock cylinder on a customers car at Ford dealership I worked at. We would use Motorcraft penetrating and lock lubricant.