Help - ignition lock jammed!

Hello everyone.

Noticed key difficult to turn yesterday so took it out and turned it round 180 deg and put it back and it worked. Now this morning key goes in wont turn at all its solid. I have three keys and theyre all the same.

Any ideas?

id say it was ****ed.
u can try and squirt some wd40 in it wif that little red straw thingy.
if that dont work then a new lock barrel assembly looks favourite.

Tried the WD40 trick with no avail. Called out RAC see what they can do. It used to be a case of 'Its the ignition coil' whatever you called them out for. We'll see what they say. Are the keys encoded? I have a separate key fob for the immobilizer. How much do you reckon for the assembly?

It's not that big a job to remove the barrel if you're small enough to get at it.

It could be a couple of things, either the wafers in the barrel have got stuck by being forced or not properly aligning because a spring has broken or maybe the switch has burnt contacts or broken internally as well.

You can easily dismantle the barrel once its all off but remember to keep the key inserted otherwise the bits will fall out and you'll have to figure out how they go back.
If you take out the barrel and find none of the wafer springs are broken check to see if all the wafers are flush round the barrel (key in place). If one isn't you can file it down a touch or remove it (spring as well).

If it's not the barrel and its definately the switch then seek advice from a L/R dealer for replacing the switch. Don't forget to find out what caused it to go or you might be doing it again real soon.

Before you start get replacement security bolts and ask if you can have replacement bits on "sale or return". It saves all that messing about.

Thanks. RAC came and had a look, very reluctant to do anything. Said it would invalidate insurance to remove it. All sorts of horror stories about how hard they were to remove. With that, I unscrewed the switch part from the back of the unit and can start it with a screwdriver. 2 minutes with a long thin chisel and a hammer had the shear bolts off and the assembly is removed. I think the new one (Paddocks £48 inc Vat and del) comes with new shear bolts. (I hope so!)

The guy who came reckoned having a big bunch of keys on your car keys causes a strain on the lock mechanism and premature failure.

i had a 96 ford hescort every 8 months or so the keys would wear out. you could only get so many made from the master key before you had to replace the whole lot. door locks,ign switch, boot locks and fuel cap. at a cost of 5 brazillion quid. so it got a red trigger switch fer the ign and a push botton starter installed.
which is not somethink you could do in a high crime area.

seems like another way they have found to get even more money out of the car owners.

At the moment mine is screwdriver start. Not a high crime area. At least the immobiliser works still. I have put all the cowlings etc back on the column so as not to draw attention to there being no ignition lock in there at the mo!

Got new one today courtesy of paddocks £48 inc Vat and Del. Came with the shear bolts and took all of 5 mins to fit. At last back to normal (til the next thing!)

We don't fit new ones, we go to a local locksmith (guy is covered in tatoos, I wonder where he learnt about locks) and he fixes them for the equivalent of 10 quid and we've never had a client come back to complain.

If you want a laugh, read the 'official' way of getting the lock out. Includes removing the steering column, looks as if it would take all day. Sometimes it is best to ignore the LR manuals.

It took about 5 mins to get old one off with a long chisel and a hammer and about the same time to put the new one back on.