From a 2001 Toyota Avalon. The dang thing is stuck in the "OFF" position. Of course I tried different keys, lubricants, rocking the shift lever, steering wheel, etc. but it won't budge. I'm certain that the lock cylinder itself is bad. So I went ahead and bought a new cylinder and by examining it I figured out that in order to remove the existing cylinder I have to first get it to "ACC" then depress a release pin on the underside. Wonderful. If I could only get the thing to budge, it would be a snap! Next I tried drilling out the core. I don't know what kind of steel is in those things but I ruined two titanium drill bits and made almost no progress. So now I am back to trying to force the thing to move to ACC.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Every time I've had one replaced, the steering wheel had to be pulled. Airbags obviously complicate that job.

 

The lock is in the dash, not on the column. I don't think that is in issue with this car. Removing the lock cylinder would be a quick and easy job IF I could get the key in the ACC position. That's the problem.

 

Didn't know about the location. Seems to me the fact that you can't put it in ACC is the whole problem in the first place. I've heard mechanics talk about holding on to the key and turning it with a vice grips.

 

Well, I finally got it out. It finally occurred to me to drill out the retaining pin on the underside of the lock cylinder. The pin is softer metal and drilled out easily. Once that was done, the cylinder slid right out and I was able to install the new one with no problem.

Problem solved!

 

Great! Thanks for posting back, it's always nice to hear how things turned out, even if you really didn't get any help from us.