This happen about 3-4 years ago , went to post office , got out locked the van. When return key would not unlock steering wheel. Figure out sticking screwdriver into hole that had plastic cover unlock steering wheel so tow truck could load van onto flatbed and take it home. Once I started reading and researching info about this , I knew the problem was the locking pin was not moving to unlock steering wheel. The clue that wil tell you this is the problem / is when key is inserted into key hole listen for the sound of motor trying to SPIN, it may sound like a relay click to you because motor rotates until it jams then it stops , this noise only last about 1second. So this is what I learn the key has a chip in it when key is inserted into key hole the round ring around keyhole is the antenna that picks up signal from key and sends it to ignition module that triggers motor to spin which rotates plastic or teflon gear to move unlocking pin out of steering colum to unlock steering wheel. The proper fix is to replace this motor which is attach to steering colum with rivets , once that's done it has to be reprogram with scan tool. And of coarse this involves going to dealer for service most of time . This is my fix for about $10 - went to harbor freight bought a metal cutting wheel that attaches to my drill and a bag of 8" tie straps. Had to removed some of plastic covers under steering wheel and a part of the duct for ac , it exposed the motor attached to steering colum there is a plate on bottom of this motor that i cut towards the back of the plate. There are 4 pins that holds this plate that could not be remove. So by cutting across this plate towards the rear two pins , be careful not to cut towards middle so not to damage this round plastic / teflon gear. Once this was done I was able to slip this plate off. when this plate is off MAKE SURE TO HOLD THIS GEAR WITH YOUR FINGER NOT TO LET IT SLIP OFF! Just for giggles I let gear drop just enough to turn about a couple of tooth place gear back up into position inserted key into key hole turn key " Walla It STARTED !" So I turn van off and put a tie strap around motor to hold gear into position pulled out the front two pins and found two small screws that fit into the holes where the front two pins came out , placed motor plate back and screw the small two screws onto the front of plate then wrap a tie strap towards the rear of plate and pulled it tight . As far as this gear I think there are markings on it for proper position/ it may or may not . Reason I mention this is because it reminds me of timing gears in older VCR's . Did a lot of repair back in the day. It's been running with this temporary fix for last 3-4 years . From time to Time it makes a noise like motor is jamming all I have to do is move steering wheel usually to left and it unlocks the steering pin and van starts , this usually happens when my wheels are turn instead of being straight or tires are up against parking curb , so I try to be sure when I park with no tension on tires . I will try to post photos , first time trying to post photos . So this would be my advice is to carry these items in case this happens to you this fix can be done 30-45 minutes or less if you already know how to get to locking motor attach to steeering colum . Hope this helps - As a side side note I have read many mechanic's say that this happens often even after replacing steering colum with motor , Mecerdes, BMW, and others also have same problem.
