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.
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.
Snapped UPVC door gearbox component.
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.
Common failure in modern multipoints
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.
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.
UPVC door mechanisms
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.
It might sound ridiculous but I come across this jetwasher situation 2 or 3 times every year. Do not jetwash the engine. Do not jetwash inside the car.
If you’ve forced high pressure water inside and your car won’t start it’s no good calling an automotive locksmith. Programming a new key won’t help. What might get your car started is perhaps several thousand pounds to replace damaged electronics.
You’re away from home and have lost your van keys. You’ve spent hours searching for them. You call an auto locksmith to program you a new key. The locksmith asks you to pop the bonnet open and you see this….
The “lost” key in the bonnet lock. Where it had been all along.
The key was in the bonnet lock. Customer saw the funny side though. They’d filled up with antifreeze earlier in the day and the keys were still in the lock. A second remote was programmed while we were there so it wasn’t a wasted journey.
Some Transit Customs once locked with the remote, cannot then be started with the non remote key that came with the vehicle. If the alarm is active the vehicle may be immobilised until the remote turns the alarm off. A spare remote will avoid you having to call somebody out to get you going.
Once I arrived late at night to replace a missing Transit remote. As I stepped out of my van I stood on something in the grass. It was the customer’s missing remote. A few times every year we have calls from customers who have lost their keys while canoeing in the River Wye. One time we had Audi keys been thrown on the bonfire. Once a customer flushed their Ford key down the toilet in Lydney Hospital.
