Category: Car keys

In a previous post a customer had to smash their Transit side window. Their remote had lost synchronisation with the vehicle and the door lock was broken.

The customer subsequently asked us to make up a new door lock to match the existing locks. A disassembled lock from Ford comes in a box containing hundreds of individual parts that need to be put together in a certain order.

Below is the old and new lock. The springs and wafers in front are leftover as they were not required to match this particular key code.

If you need a replacement key or remote in Ross on Wye, or Forest of Dean area then ask us for or quote. Now matter where you in the country an independent auto locksmith will normally be significantly cheaper than a main dealer.

This key is for a Ford Transit. Somebody wanted to separate the metal blade from the plastic head (because it was loose and spinning) so decided to hacksaw it off.

Unfortunately this meant they cut the glass transponder chip in half. Without the correct chip the vehicle is immobilised and won’t start.

Below is a new transponder chip that we programmed into the vehicle in the Forest of Dean. As you can see it is glass and very delicate. The Ford transponder chips are about double the size of the ID48 chip commonly used by Fiat and VW. Safely inside the key head it should be protected from most bumps and knocks – but it won’t survive being cut in half with a hacksaw! Because there was only 1 key for the vehicle they didn’t have a backup and had to call out an auto locksmith to program new keys. It is always a good idea to have a spare key for a vehicle. It is normally significantly cheaper to get a key duplicated from an existing key than it is to cut and program one from scratch.

The type of dash remote that slots into the dashboard of some BMW, Volvo and VW can be very expensive to replace. If you currently only have 1 remote and don’t want to potentially pay several hundred pounds for an emergency replacement, you don’t have to.

If you just need a backup in case you lose your only remote there is a much cheaper alternative. It is called a dashpod. With a manual key and a transponder chip programmed to your car, a dashpod can be used to open the vehicle and start it. A dashpod can even get wet as there is no circuitry or battery inside to become damaged like a remote. Admittedly it doesn’t look as nice as a remote, but it can get you home if you’ve lost your only remote. And it’s probably at least £100 cheaper than a spare remote that might actually never be needed and may just sit in a drawer.

Car key programming available in Ross on Wye, Forest of Dean and surrounding areas.

This remnant of a snapped key is about to be finally removed from the ignition barrel. Whenever the broken key extractor kit needs to be used, it is almost always dark and raining.

We use dedicated broken key extraction tools to remove snapped parts of key. Sometimes it may need 2 or 3 tools in the lock to get the part out. On occasion it will be necessary to remove the lock and strip it down to remove the broken part.

To replace the key it may be possible just to clamp the broken parts together in a trace-cutter. Or failing that the key can be read by eye or software or cut from code. In many cases it is possible to decode the lock itself. In most cases it is possible to cut a new key even if parts or all of the original key are missing.

This job was to replace lost keys for an imported Brazilian VW Transporter. Despite being long discontinued in Europe, this particular model continued to be made in South America. The first stage (before EEPROM programming a new transponder into the immobiliser) is to make the metal key blade.

The vehicle had sat for several years without moving.  We couldn’t manage to decode the locks on the vehicle using a special tool or by impressioning. The importers were unable to provide key information so the only option was to remove the steering wheel,  remove the steering lock then strip the entire ignition lock.

 

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A customer was suddenly unable to open his VW Passat using the remote.  The remote battery had gone flat, and by the time the battery had been replaced it had lost synchronisation with the car.  (To start this car the whole remote slots into the dashboard. There is no ignition barrel).

Ordinarily that’s not a problem because the emergency backup key could be used to open the door. Not in this case,  the backup key had been lost. 

Fortunately we were able to open the car for the customer, synchronise the remote again, and cut a replacement backup key for the customer.

If you’ve lost your backup key,  think about what you’d do if the remote is flat, or goes through the washing machine.

This is an aftermarket remote ready for cutting and programming into Land Rover Discovery 04-09 or Range Rover Sport 05-09.   We can also supply and program other LR/RR remotes. (Either genuine OEM or aftermarket). 

Typically an old, worn Tibbe key will have a similarly worn lock too. This is a Fiesta lock being stripped down. Normally the dustcover has badly worn and will grab a newly cut key and make it difficult, or impossible to remove from the lock.

You can gently chamfer the key so that that the key can pull out, or just remove the dust cover and keep the key sharp.