Big Forehead

Well, I had the same problem as others in this thread with my 2000 RX 300. Being that it's a 20 year old car, I didn't want to spend too much money getting it fixed. I was able to take apart the lower dash on the driver's side and, with the help of a hammer and nail, I was able to get the little button on the ignition key cylinder holder to depress and pull the ignition cylinder out. Lucky for me this issue happened in my driveway, so I didn't need to get it towed to the shop. I called the local Lexus dealer and then my go-to garage -- both of them told me to call this company called Keyway to fix it. I called, and the lady initially told me that it would be between $275 and $375 to fix. The Coronavirus hit and we have been stuck at home for the last 3 weeks so we didn't need the second car. I finally decided to bite the bullet and pay to have it fixed so I called Keyway back and the lady told me that it would be $275 to install the new ignition cylinder assembly and get it synched up with the computer. I would have to pay for the new ignition cylinder too ($150), and new master keys (???). Since this $275 dollar job grew into a $600 (estimating) job, I decided to search the Internet again to see if I could find a solution. I found this thread and the suggestion, that seemed crazy to me, to stick a screwdriver in the key slot and hemmer it lightly. That didn't work, but the post also said that the problem was caused by the tiny springs inside of the cylinder sticking. I decided to try squirting a little Kroil (penetrating oil used to loosen rusted parts) into the key slot. I waited about 3 minutes and struck the perimeter of the key cylinder body on the garage floor a few times while rotating it so that I wasn't striking the same place twice. That did it!!! A few minute later I had the key lock cylinder back in the car, the dash back together, the battery hooked back up, and I was driving down the road. There might be less smelly ways to get the springs unstuck. Kroil is pretty stinky, and I wouldn't recommend driving around with the windows up after doing this. Repeatedly putting the key into the ignition, pulling it out, and wiping it off got out the majority of the excess oil. I also used a pipe cleaner stuck into the ignition key hole to sop up more of it. I'm sure that the odor will dissipate after a couple days. I'm glad to have my old trusty Lexus back in running condition. I really appreciate the advice of the folks on this thread.