I pulled into a coffee shop last night, turned the key to turn off the car and removed the key. The car was still running. Key came out and a number of warning lights came on the dash (airbag etc). I put the key back in the ignition and turned it a couple times to try and get the car to turn off. Nothing. Sat for a bit and thought about what I was seeing. Decided I was not nuts and tried it again. Put the key back in, "turned it on" and then turned it off. It turned off. Oddly, when I turned the car "on" when it was already running, it did not make a horrible starter grinding noise.

Any ideas what might cause this? Is something "going" on my car?

I have a 2003 996 with just over 20K miles on it. Entirely stock car (for now).

 

...it is likely a fault in the ignition switch. That is what it was in my case.

Do you have a code reader? Might be useful to see if it threw any codes.

 

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...howtopic=16077

 

+ 1 .

 

+1 on bad ignition switch

The above article is for replacing the entire steering lock mechanism, including the ignition switch, the "permanent" solution to the problem. Here's an article for replacing the ignition switch only; good if you prefer a simpler fix, but one which you might have to repeat someday: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...with-pictures/

The part you need is about $9 plus shipping from www.autohausaz.com.

Good luck.