Key will not turn in ignition

Hi Folks,

So , lately I have been having a wee bit of trouble turning the key in the ignition. I've dipped the key in oil and wiggled it around a bit and that has always fixed the problem till now . This fix would usually last a good few months before the issue returned .

Today , myself and a friend were bringing trailers of compost over to his , we'd already done 2 trips and loaded another but when i tried to start the key was not turning again .

The oil trick did not work this time so i tried some grease but no joy . We also tried raisng both front wheels up to perhaps free up the pressure on the steering lock but it didn't help us . We also tried disconnecting battery but that didn't help either .

We are thinking of going at it again tomorrow by taking the couling off and seeing what we can do .

Has anyone come across this before and what could be a possible fix?

Cheers

Have you got a spare key? silicon spray is normally better for locks than oil, have you tried rocking s/wheel as you try and turn key,
A very light tap on the end of the key with hammer might help free it, good luck

Worn key barrel which will only get worse I am afraid.
Replace steering lock assembly and if key is different simply swap chip from key into new key.

Had this and tried everything but if the brass key slides in the lock are worn then replacement is only way out.

Also it's not wise to use oil or grease on the key or in the lock, graphite pencil it better, but it does sound like what Andy has said above.

I presume oil or grease being bad is because dirt sticks to it?

Maybe if oil or grease has been used, and dirt collected in it, it could be taken out and cleaned?

At work the doors for the outside accessed compartments (for gas bottles etc) are standard campervan fare and use standard (ie cheap and nasty) locks. They jam even when newish - in fact more often when newish.

I give them a quick burst of WD40/CRC and they come back to life. This will presumably only work on barrels that are not worn.

Thanks for the replies guys,

So we took off the ignition/steering lock and barrel was jammed , we managed to free it by putting on a flat surface and whacking it a few times with a hammer after dosing it with wd40 , however it is still intermittently sticking so in order not to get stranded somewhere away from my shed full of tools I've decided to order a replacement .
We were going to drill out the snap off bolts but a whack with a center punch to free them up and gripping with wire cuttes we managed to get them out intact . i hacksawed grooves in them for next time .
Trouble is I really need a vehicle to drive so we put back everything in order to just use a screwdrive to turn ignition on while the fob sits beside the sensor coil.

The dash lights up ok but when i try to turn over nothing happens. we tried to reset by disconnecting battery but no joy .
diagnostic obd yoke is posting error code P1602 which is something to do with immobillizer.

tested coil with multi meter and looks ok so we are just having a hot cup of tea and a think.

Any ideas what we did wrong that might have caused this, we're going to go back at it afer tea so just posting an update.

No good with fob near sensor coil. The chip is in the key head. Has to be inside the loop.

Looks like you have taken dash out !!

Ignition lock is just the cowl, 4 screws !!

Ok so Andy is correct , the key needs to be inside the coil or the engine won't start.

We just took all apart for room to drill out but wasn't necessary in the end .

Had no idea really what I was doing before I started , learned a lot about ignitions today

I've been offered a replacement from an L series before beemer took over , would it be compatible?

This is a 2003 model with the m47 engine


Also this site is great for land rover specific codes