Author: hoverfishSimon

We’ve attended 4 failed Ford ignition barrels recently. In all cases the steering lock was on and the would not turn. The owners had all been ignoring a difficulty turning the key. WD40 won’t make make a broken spring or worn wafer grow back. Don’t ignore a key that’s difficult to turn – it won’t go away.

In one case the customer attempted to release the steering lock DIY by drilling whatever they thought might help. In doing so they drilled into the wiring loom. That inadvertently destroyed the BCM (brain of the van) and causing hundreds, if not thousands of pounds of damage.

A different customer took an angle grinder to the steering column housing. Admittedly they did release the steering lock. Unfortunately the part they destroyed cost about £480 + VAT, plus labour. And they still needed a new lock.

An auto locksmith knows how to remove a failed Ford ignition. They won’t damage your van. They can build you a new lock to match the key. If you get the lock replaced before it fails it will be cheaper for you.

It it’s starting to become difficult to turn your Volkswagen or Ford ignition barrel then don’t ignore it. Get it replaced ASAP. WD40 isn’t going to repair worn metal or a broken spring.

Ford Transit and Custom ignition barrels are well known for failing. You might be able to wiggle the key and get it working today, tomorrow it might jam forever and you’ll be stuck at the side of the road. It is easy to replace when you can still turn the key. It’s a lot more difficult to replace when the lock cannot be turned.

VW, Audi, Seat locks tend to fail in a different way. It isn’t the lock barrel that fails. It’s normally the steering column housing. Again, don’t ignore it. To repair it may require cowling off, airbag off, steering wheel off, switchgear off. (If the steering wheel etc have to come off then that’s a job for a mechanic).

If your key is awkward to turn in the ignition barrel, don’t ignore it. It won’t go away. Squirting WD40 in there won’t magically regrow a worn key, a collapsed spring or other broken part.

One day you’ll try to turn it, and you can’t. You’re stuck. We were able to root-canal the failed internals of the above Ford lock out, disable the steering lock and get the customer driving again. It would’ve been much cheaper and easer to have had it replaced before it jammed.

This is especially common on Transits and other builders/work vans but does happen to cars too. VW/Audi cars are particularly prone.

Some crackers have plastic keys in. Unfortunately they replicate an actual key blank that will fit into (but not unlock) many door locks. Here’s one we retrieved earlier.

Your darling child or (evil little horror) is just itching to try it in your door lock and snap it off inside. That’s probably better than them swallowing it though.

Leave some mince pies and a glass of milk if you have to call an emergency locksmith. Ho, ho ho!

If your UPVC/composite door key turns but won’t unlock there are several possible reasons.

Do you live on St Mary’s in Ross on Wye, or a new estate in Lydney? If your lock/key looks like this then your lock may be faulty. We replace plenty of these on these estates.

Because of the internal/external thickness of the doors, your options are limited for an alternative lock. Not many manufacturers make them in the length you need with the same level of security for your ATK lock replacement. These are British Standard 3* locks.

It’s only the front door locks with the thumbturn that are unreliable. The ATK ones fitted to your patio doors with keyhole both sides work ok.

It’s been probably 10 years since last coming across these things. This house had 6 of these horrible mechanisms that had broken. (A massive garage spider was living in the frame of one of them). Most of these windows ever fitted broke years ago and have already been replaced. The Tallon system can be very secure but in reality it just means they’ll break and jam your windows securely shut.

With the correct tools and equipment it is possible to repair UPVC jammed windows and fit a modern system in their place. That is much cheaper than completely replacing the windows. Hopefully these will be the last Tallons we need to work on. I’d hope it was the last time a huge window spider runs up my arm but that’s been proved wrong already this week.

The vehicle pictured below was crashed/recovered without the keycard. You can see the airbags have deployed. A new remote has now been programmed to the vehicle. Typically the airbag module needs to be replaced/reset before the vehicle will run.

Car keys.

This little piece of metal (biro tip for scale) below snaps in a particular make/model of UPVC door multipoint. If it breaks the door is jammed shut. The same part had broken off in 6 other doors at a single property we attended recently. That rendered all the doors jammed shut.

The doors were carelessly installed / had moved out of alignment. Correctly aligning the doors when they became difficult to lock would have prevented this failure. Instead the problem was ignored until one by one, the mechanisms broke and the doors couldn’t be opened. That 1.5mm x 2mm piece of nasty diecast metal will snap off if undue force is required to lock the door.

The particular component shown below from another particular UPVC door make/model is responsible for around 80% of door failures in new/recent builds that we get called to. We can see 2 or 3 of this broken part in a single day. It’s not unusual for a badly fitted door to jam shut the day the customer has moved in, or the builders haven’t even handed it it over yet.

Squirting WD40 in the lock, or filing parts off the frame might make your door work better temporarily. Unless you correct the fault it is just delaying the inevitable.

UPVC repairs

The above type of remotes was used on older Mercedes vehicles. They were unusual in that the remote does not use transponder in the conventional RF range.

Instead these remotes communicated their unique ID to the vehicle via infra-red. The LED looks much like that you’d find in a TV remote. Unless a correctly programmed remote was detected the EIS (electronic ignition slot) would not turn.

Sometimes when people replace the battery in these remotes the IR LED becomes damaged or bent. That can prevent the vehicle from starting. It is much simpler to add a spare remote to these vehicles than it is to replace one if all remotes are lost/broken.

This style of remote is still used on current vehicles such as Chrysler/Dodge/Ram. Instead of the Mercedes type IR LED they use a conventional transponder. Depending on the vehicle the remote can have up to 7 buttons doing different functions.

At this time of year we see a spike in UPVC door and window related issues. Increased heat can cause UPVC to become more flexible. Bi-colour doors that are dark outside and white inside are more likely to warp if they get the sun on them. As the ground dries out buildings can shift leading to door misalignment. All of these can cause a door to be difficult/impossible to lock/unlock.

Spraying WD40 or similar isn’t going to realign your doors, nor stop the house settling. If you ignore a door that is difficult to lock don’t be surprised if it breaks. It is always cheaper to correctly align a door than to open a jammed shut door and replace the multipoint.