So I drove my 06 h3 into snow filled ditch the other night, had to get yanked out by my girlfriends wrangler well an hour later after taking my keys in and out of the ignition several times, I tried to take them out again and they wouldn't turn all the way back to pull out. Then I noticed none of my windows worked. Nor my wipers. I also noticed when I took the remote off the keys to lock it from the outside it locked but the lights didn't work. So I disconnected the battery for about ten minutes then hooked it back up and the key came out and everything worked. Drove a few miles and back and it still worked. Left the house a couple hours later then came home and the key was stuck again. So the battery was almost dead leaving for work this morning. Then after the 12 hour work day it was completely dead because I couldn't turn the key off all the way. So now its just sitting while I'm borrowing another vehicle from somebody. I researched this last night and saw a lot of people had it happen to them but never seemed to find anyone who had the solution. Most people had there door locks stop working too but mine still work. Does anyone have the answer to fix this?? Thanks

 

Welcome to the Sh*tty World of GM and the now discontinued Hummer.

 

1 check batt terminals,clean,tight,change
2 check volts when started,should go to 15 for a while if charging.
3 check batt drain with ammeter in series with one batt cable, 110ma, .1 amp normal
4 ?

 

Now this is helpful.

On the other hand, you could have actually provided the reason the key gets stuck in the ignition........ it's not a defect, it is GM's way of telling you your Battery is dead.

 

Your battery is DEAD or has a bad cell. How old is it? Have it tested.

I also bet you still have those POS OEM battery terminal connectors. There is a butt load of threads here on replacing the OEMs with a quality aftermarket set of Battery Terminal Connectors, like Stingers or your favorite brand. The OEMs always get trashed because somebody over tightens the nut (like when disconnecting the battery or changing it) and then they do not maintain a solid proper connection. Minute changes in voltage can cause all kinds of electrical problems.

Best way to avoid Gremlins is to hack off the crappy OEM terminals and replace them. First mod everybody should do, cheap easy DIY fix.

 

Well I changed the battery just be sure and the terminals. It still didn't work. I can turn the key to pull it out now about every other time without turning the vehicle on, just turning it back and forth. So in the mean time I'm wondering if I can put a plug or some kind of connector or switch on the ground wire to the battery so I can continue to drive it to work while I'm trying to find the problem without the battery dying on me when the key won't come out. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

i got a disconnect at autozone when i had a radio problem.

 

How hard did you hit the ditch? Could have knocked the fuse panel under the hood loose. I would try to take it apart and reassemble it and see if that fixes it.

Do you have any codes on the DIC?