Motorcycle keys

Modern motorbikes mostly have factory fitted immobilisers. It was mandatory for new cars to be fitted with immobilisers long before their common adoption with motorcycles. For decades all it took to steal a motorcycle was to kick the steering lock off and screwdriver the ignition to on. Now a modern engine won’t run without a correctly programmed transponder detected, regardless of whether the ignition is turned on, or not.

Honda HISS key
Additional Honda HISS key (ST1300 Pan European in this example).

It is still recommended to use secondary security devices such as chains or disc locks. These will make it more awkward for criminals to wheel the van away or lift it into a van to be broken into parts. It isn’t about making your bike impregnable – it’s about making it easier to steal somebody else’s instead.

It is much simpler to make a duplicate programmed transponder key for your motorcycle if you still have a working key. Once you’ve lost all keys it’s significantly more expensive and may require getting trailered to a main dealer. Many motorbike transponder chips can be cloned which avoids having to program the ECU or having to connect devices to the harness.

We can provide spare keys for many bikes fitted with immobilisers such as Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, BMW etc.

Faulty mortice lock

Mortice locks can become difficult to open for various reasons. Examples are a worn key, misaligned door, worn lock, or a foreign object.

mortice lock repair
Faulty mortice lock. Side plate loose. Lever and spring out of line.

This British Standard 5 lever lock has just been removed from a steel welfare toilet unit. Customer could not unlock the door. The original keys were in good condition. The door could not be picked and it didn’t feel right when trying. This tells a locksmith that the lock is faulty.

The only option to open the door was to make a small and accurately placed hole through both the door and the armour plate of the lock. Once the lock was disabled the door could be opened.

You can see the gap between the side plate and the body of the lock. A lever spring is stuck in the gap. This allows the lever to slip off the key and not spring back. This is quite often seen with this make and model of lock. If I fit them I will Loctite the screws in place to prevent it happening.

UPVC door and window repairs

UPVC doors commonly fail / break due to door misalignment, old age or misuse.

One of the rarer problems I’ve come across is due to the door being full of water. In one example a customer reported their door was jammed shut if it was really cold. On first attendance it was below freezing and the door felt heavy. Later in the afternoon once it was warmer you could hear water sloshing about in the door. We drained nearly 10 litres from that door before correcting the other fault.

In another UPVC door below that had jammed shut due to corrosion of the multipoint mechanism you can see the final dregs of about 5 litres of water being drained out of the door.

Jammed UPVC window repairs.

If your UPVC window won’t open there may be a few causes. The simplest of them to to fix will be a faulty window handle. At the other end of the spectrum is a window jammed shut because the mechanism has broken.

With the correct tools a jammed window can be opened and the mechanism replaced. We carry stock for most types of window mechanism.

Even a layman can see why the mechanism in the picture below wasn’t working. This make and model of espag (espagnolette) gearbox is one of the more common ones we come across.

Broken window lock

Jammed or broken UPVC window lock?

UPVC windows may become difficult to open or break completely. Reasons for this may include poor installation, poor alignment, dropped window, lack of lubrication, wear and tear etc.

Broken window mechanism

Bathroom and kitchen windows tend to break or jam more than other windows. This is due to the increased moisture in the air in these rooms.

The gearbox above is one of the most common makes that we replace. They fail because of poor fitting / maintenance. The window had been jammed closed for months. You can see how badly corroded and caked in crud this has become over the years. One of the mounting screws had to be drilled out because it was so seized.

An occasional application of lubricant to the moving parts of your windows can prevent this happening. Use a lithium or silicone lubricant. GT85 or similar is OK. WD40 is not good for this situation.

If your window handle and lock operate ok with the window open, but not when closed then this indicates an alignment problem. This can often be remedied by rehinging the window.

Faulty mortice door lock?

Do you have a door that is difficult to lock from one side? Mortice locks are normally designed to operate from both sides. If key is mostly used from one particular side of the door the key can wear unevenly.

An indicator of a worn key is it working better from one side, and/or having to jiggle the key up and down to get it to turn. Getting a new key cut from an original (not a copy) may solve your problem.

Badly cut and worn key
Worn key causing difficulty locking.

In the example above key has worn but this made worse by being a badly copied key from a high street shop. Points A and B should be flat across the top but you can see the uneven wear. Because point A is too narrow it has been able to slip off lever 5 in the lock. Unfortunately the worn keys had cause wear to the levers so it was necessary to replace the levers too.

Faulty ignition locks. Repair and replacement.

faulty car ignition lock

There is a bit of a flurry of faulty/jammed ignition locks at the moment. Here are 2 examples. Top is a Honda, bottom is a Citroen. Vehicles were 10-15 years old and had quite a lot of use.

Sometimes ignition locks jam because the key is worn. In that case it’s simple enough to cut a new key to original dimensions. In the 2 cases shown above the lock barrels had failed. The lock/housings needed to be removed and replaced. Occasionally the lock isn’t at fault, it’s the ignition switch but it can be difficult for the layman to identify.

If your key is starting to become difficult to turn in both the ignition and the doors, the key is likely worn. If it is difficult to turn just in the ignition then you might want to think about getting the lock replaced before you find yourself marooned in a car park.

On some vehicles (e.g. a lot of VWs such as Polos, Golfs etc) just the lock barrel can be changed. In the case of Land Rovers, Volvos and the examples above it’s easier to just change the entire lock housing.

VW Transporter T5 compatible remotes

VW compatible remotes

VW Transporter T5 (not 5.1) compatible remotes are £85 supplied, cut and programmed (until 1 Jan 24). If you lose all keys/remotes it will cost you more to get one done so it’s worth getting a spare if you’ve only got one.

You can choose from a variety of different styles. You can even choose Audi, Bentley, Ford (why would you?) and others.

If you just want a transponder key (chip but no remote) as a back up they are £55. (That compares to about £200 from most dealers).

If you don’t want another key but have simply locked your keys inside, we can help with that too.

Christmas / New Year Opening Hours

We are open every day over the festive period. Nothing will cheer me up more than you locking your keys (and your presents) in your car, or locking yourself out. If you need a locksmith over this period then give us a call.

Xmas Eve – Open

Xmas Day – Open

Boxing Day – Open

New Years Eve – Open

New Years Day – Open

Removing snapped car key